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Why do major historical events such as the Holocaust occupy the forefront of the collective consciousness, while profound moments such as the Armenian genocide, the McCarthy era, and France's role in North Africa stand distantly behind? Is it possible that history "overly remembers" some events at the expense of others? A landmark work in philosophy, Paul Ricoeur's Memory, History, Forgetting examines this reciprocal relationship between remembering and forgetting, showing how it affects both the perception of historical experience and the production of historical narrative. Memory, History, Forgetting , like its title, is divided into three major sections. Ricoeur first takes a phenomenological approach to memory and mnemonical devices. The underlying question here is how a memory of present can be of something absent, the past. The second section addresses recent work by historians by reopening the question of the nature and truth of historical knowledge. Ricoeur explores whether historians, who can write a history of memory, can truly break with all dependence on memory, including memories that resist representation. The third and final section is a profound meditation on the necessity of forgetting as a condition for the possibility of remembering, and whether there can be something like happy forgetting in parallel to happy memory. Throughout the book there are careful and close readings of the texts of Aristotle and Plato, of Descartes and Kant, and of Halbwachs and Pierre Nora. A momentous achievement in the career of one of the most significant philosophers of our age, Memory, History, Forgetting provides the crucial link between Ricoeur's Time and Narrative and Oneself as Another and his recent reflections on ethics and the problems of responsibility and representation. His success in revealing the internal relations between recalling and forgetting, and how this dynamic becomes problematic in light of events once present but now past, will inspire academic dialogue and response but also holds great appeal to educated general readers in search of both method for and insight from considering the ethical ramifications of modern events. . . . It is indeed a master work, not only in Ricoeurs own vita but also in contemporary European philosophy. Library Journal Ricoeur writes the best kind of philosophycritical, economical, and clear. New York Times Book Review CONTENTS 12 Preface 16 PART I ON MEMORY AND RECOLLECTION 20 Chapter 1 Memory and Imagination 24 Reading Guidelines 24 The Greek Heritage 26 A Phenomenological Sketch of Memory 40 Memories and Images 63 Chapter 2 The Exercise of Memory: Uses and Abuses 75 Reading Guidelines 75 The Abuses of Artificial Memory: The Feats of Memorization 77 The Abuses of Natural Memory: Blocked Memory, Manipulated Memory, Abusively Controlled Memory 87 Chapter 3 Personal Memory, Collective Memory 112 Reading Guidelines 112 The Tradition of Inwardness 115 The External Gaze: Maurice Halbwachs 139 Three Subjects of the Attribution of Memories: Ego, Collectives, Close Relations 143 PART II HISTORY, EPISTEMOLOGY 152 Prelude History: Remedy or Poison? 160 Chapter 1 The Documentary Phase: Archived Memory 165 Reading Guidelines 165 Inhabited Space 166 Historical Time 172 Testimony 180 The Archive 185 Documentary Proof 195 Chapter 2 Explanation/Understanding 201 Reading Guidelines 201 Promoting the History of Mentalities 207 Some Advocates of Rigor: Michel Foucault, Michel de Certeau, Norbert Elias 219 Variations in Scale 228 From the Idea of Mentality to That of Representation 235 The Dialectic of Representation 246 Chapter 3 The Historian’s Representation 253 Reading Guidelines 253 Representation and Narration 257 Representation and Rhetoric 267 The Historian’s Representation and the Prestige of the Image 280 Standing For 293 PART III THE HISTORICAL CONDITION 300 Prelude The Burden of History and the Nonhistorical 306 Chapter 1 The Critical Philosophy of History 312 Reading Guidelines 312 “Die Geschichte Selber,” “History Itself ” 315 “Our” Modernity 324 The Historian and the Judge 333 Interpretation in History 352 Chapter 2 History and Time 362 Reading Guidelines 362 Temporality 371 Historicity 388 Within-Timeness: Being-“in”-Time 401 The Uncanniness of History 412 Chapter 3 Forgetting 431 Reading Guidelines 431 Forgetting and the Effacing of Traces 437 Forgetting and the Persistence of Traces 446 The Forgetting of Recollection: Uses and Abuses 462 Epilogue Difficult Forgiveness 476 The Forgiveness Equation 478 The Odyssey of the Spirit of Forgiveness: The Passage through Institutions 489 The Odyssey of the Spirit of Forgiveness: The Stage of Exchange 497 The Return to the Self 505 Looking Back over an Itinerary: Recapitulation 512 Notes 526 Works Cited 626 Index 646

Why do major historical events such as the Holocaust occupy the forefront of the collective consciousness, while profound moments such as the Armenian genocide, the McCarthy era, and France's role in North Africa stand distantly behind? Is it possible that history "overly remembers" some events at the expense of others? A landmark work in philosophy, Paul Ricoeur's Memory, History, Forgetting examines this reciprocal relationship between remembering and forgetting, showing how it affects both the perception of historical experience and the production of historical narrative.

Memory, History, Forgetting, like its title, is divided into three major sections. Ricoeur first takes a phenomenological approach to memory and mnemonical devices. The underlying question here is how a memory of present can be of something absent, the past. The second section addresses recent work by historians by reopening the question of the nature and truth of historical knowledge. Ricoeur explores whether historians, who can write a history of memory, can truly break with all dependence on memory, including memories that resist representation. The third and final section is a profound meditation on the necessity of forgetting as a condition for the possibility of remembering, and whether there can be something like happy forgetting in parallel to happy memory. Throughout the book there are careful and close readings of the texts of Aristotle and Plato, of Descartes and Kant, and of Halbwachs and Pierre Nora.

A momentous achievement in the career of one of the most significant philosophers of our age, Memory, History, Forgetting provides the crucial link between Ricoeur's Time and Narrative and Oneself as Another and his recent reflections on ethics and the problems of responsibility and representation.

Times Literary Supplement

"Memory, History, Forgetting is an exceedingly serious study: serious in the . . . sense of being thoughtful, thorough, with a good sense of what is important.”--Times Literary Supplement

— Avishai Margalit

Why Do Major Historical Events Such As The Holocaust Occupy The Forefront Of The Collective Consciousness, While Profound Moments Such As The Armenian Genocide, The Mccarthy Era, And France's Role In North Africa Stand Distantly Behind? Is It Possible That History Overly Remembers Some Events At The Expense Of Others? A Landmark Work In Philosophy, Paul Ricoeur's Memory, History, Forgetting Examines This Reciprocal Relationship Between Remembering And Forgetting, Showing How It Affects Both The Perception Of Historical Experience And The Production Of Historical Narrative.--jacket. Part I. On Nemory And Recollection -- 1. Memory And Imagination -- 2. The Exercise Of Memory: Uses And Abuses -- 3. Personal Memory, Collective Memory -- Part Ii. History, Epistemology -- Prelude. History: Remedy Or Poison? -- 1. The Documentary Phase: Archived Memory -- 2. Explanation/understanding -- 3. The Historian's Representation -- Part Iii. The Historical Condition -- Prelude. The Burden Of History And The Nonhistorical -- 1. The Critical Philosophy Of History -- 2. History And Time -- 3. Forgetting -- Epilogue. Difficult Forgiveness. Paul Ricoeur ; Translated By Kathleen Blamey And David Pellauer. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [607]-626) And Index. The phenomenology of memory proposed here is structured around two question: Of what are there memories?