abstract
This article assumes that Ricoeur’s approach to memory and forgetting in Memory, History, Forgetting stems from his reflections on “just memory” in a French political landscape that suffers from “commemorative bulimia,” as Pierre Nora put it in Les lieux de mémoire (Realms of Memory). The article contrasts a concept of memory imbued with subjective emotions, in opposition to the scientific rigor of history (Nora), and a concept of living memory as the transcendental condition for our relationship with the past (Ricoeur). This confrontation underscores the ethical dimension of the politics of memory and of the collective practices of forgetting and amnesia. According to Ricoeur, Freud’s hypotheses concerning trauma and mourning may serve as a paradigm for a task that aims at a just historical narrative.
keywords:
Memory; History; Remembrance; Representance; Justice