Published: 2015-09-09
ISBN: 978-91-7685-933-9
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
As we witness a growing popularity of so called memory discourse in the field of historical and cultural studies, there is an apparent lack of systematic insight into the ethical dimension of this subject. This paper attempts to alleviate the imbalance in the treatment of the subject. In the first part the author offers some key insights into a phenomenology of natural memory. By indicating some essential elements of memory such as its volatile, dynamic and hence manipulable nature, the author shortly points to the abuse of memory at different levels and scrutinises the relationship between memory and violence.
Given the moral fickleness of memory, in the second part the author outlines the ethics of memory with the emphasis on the evaluative inquiry about memory and its relation with the notions of obligation and value. Taking into account that memory is a good in itself, and therefore a value and an ingredient of a good life, the author establishes a basic ethical criterion of memory and answers how we should remember and transmit memory, and suggests the ways in which memory, if reined in, can benefit our societies and guards them against further violence and injuries.
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