Zapomnienie i trwałość śladów (przeł. Janusz Margański)
Oblivion and traces durable (trans. Janusz Margański)

Summary/Abstract: The text is an extract from Paul Ricoeur’s book entitled La mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli Paris, Seuil 2000, the Polish translation of which is forthcoming (to be published by Universitas publishers). The ways in which human memory operates are analysed and relations and interdependencies are considered between memory and an individual’s identity viewed from the standpoint of the individual’s temporal identity. The title triad of notions describes the possible ways of our referring to the past, the triad constituents being mutually complementary. Both memory and oblivion constitute the necessary elements of human consciousness, whereas history enables us to interpret past events and experiences. In the extract herein presented, the emphasis is put on the functions and the role of the brain in the processes of memorising and forgetting. Making a reference to Henri Bergson’s Matter and Memory, Ricoeur discusses the correlation between the event and its image (representation) in the mind, perceiving the image as a durable trace of what is bygone. At the same time, he proposes a rule of correspondence between trace and event, seeing an equivalent of the real experience in the former.

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