DOCSLIB.ORG

Engaging Paul Ricoeur's Work on Memory, History, And

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Engaging Paul Ricoeur's Work on Memory, History, And View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Stellenbosch University SUNScholar Repository Engaging Paul Ricoeur’s work on memory, history, and forgetting: in search of an adequate methodology for church and theological historiography Helené van Tonder Thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Theology at Stellenbosch University. Supervisor: Dr. R.R. Vosloo December 2010 DECLARATION By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the authorship owner thereof (unless to the extent explicitly otherwise stated) and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. Date: 2 August 2010 Signature: Copyright © 2010 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved 2 ABSTRACT Life in the present is never only about the present, but notably also about the past and the future. In this study the problematic of the representation of the past is addressed in search of a responsible historical hermeneutic. It is argued that historical hermeneutics is about the past, the present and the future, and, above all, the relation that exists between them. Historical hermeneutics facilitates our understanding of the past from our position in the present and creates meaningful ways in which we may anticipate the future. In this study I aim to contribute to the development of responsible historical hermeneutic for church and theology, especially in South Africa. To do so, I engage with the magisterial work of the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur, Mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli who, I believe, proposes valuable signposts for us to reckon with on our way to a responsible historical hermeneutic. A general introduction is given to theological historiography and the development thereof in South Africa, pointing towards reasons why it is important for responsible historical hermeneutics to exist. The work of Paul Ricoeur is introduced as a valuable partner to dialogue with in this respect. A brief intellectual biography is given regarding Ricoeur’s work in order to indicate where and how his last work fits into and forms a part of his life’s work. The third chapter of the study is an outline and discussion of Ricoeur’s work, Memory, History, Forgetting. The discussion follows the order of Ricoeur’s work itself, and I try to indicate the main lines in Ricoeur’s argument, yet giving credit to him for the thorough way in which he deals with the respective themes by engaging the disciplines of philosophy, history, sociology, neurosciences etc. Subsequently I propose certain themes from Ricoeur’s work that is important for the church historian and historical theologian as signposts towards an adequate historiographical methodology. 3 OPSOMMING Lewe in die hede het nie net met die hede te make nie, maar op ‘n besondere manier ook met die verlede en die toekoms. In hierdie studie word die problematiek van die representasie van die verlede aangespreek in ‘n poging om verantwoordelike historiese hermeneutiek te bevorder. Die argument word gevoer dat historiese hermeneutiek te make het met die verlede, die hede, en die toekoms, en bowenal die verhouding waarin dit met mekaar staan. Historiese hermeneutiek fasiliteer ons verstaan van die verlede vanuit ons posisie in die hede en skep betekenisvolle maniere waarop die toekoms geantisipeer kan word. Die studie het ten doel om by te dra tot die ontwikkeling van verantwoordelike historiese hermeneutiek vir die kerk en vir teologie, veral in Suid-Afrika. Met hierdie doel voor oë, word die grootse werk van die Franse filosoof Paul Ricoeur, Mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli, bestudeer. Die bruikbare bakens op weg na verantwoordelike historiese hermeneutiek wat Ricoeur voorstel, word uitgewys. ‘n Algemene inleiding tot teologiese historiografie en die ontwikkeling daarvan in Suid- Afrika word gegee, en die belangrikheid van verantwoordelike historiese hermeneutiek sodoende uitgewys. Die werk van Paul Ricoeur word daarna ingelei as ‘n waardevolle bron in hierdie gesprek. ‘n Opsommende intellektuele biografie van Ricoeur se werk word gegee om aan te dui waar en hoe Ricoeur se laaste werke aansluit by sy ander werke. Die derde hoofstuk van die studie is ‘n uiteensetting en bespreking van Ricoeur se werk, Mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli. Die bespreking volg die verloop van Ricoeur se werk self, en daar word gepoog om die belangrikste lyne van Ricoeur se argument uit te lig. Terselfdertyd word erkenning gegee aan Ricoeur vir die deeglikheid waarmee hy met ‘n wye verskeidenheid temas en dissiplines omgaan: filosofie, geskiedenis, sosiologie, neurowetenskappe, ens. Ten slotte word sekere temas van Ricoeur se werk uitgelig wat belangrik is vir die kerkgeskiedkundige en die historiese teoloog as bakens op weg na ‘n voldoende historiografiese metodologie. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I gratefully acknowledge the role of a few people in the writing of this thesis. Thank you to my mother, Joey, my father, Gerhard, and my brothers Jaco and Neil for loving me and creating wonderful spaces (where life is possible, joyful, and precious) in which I may live. Thank you to those people who inspire, challenge, support, and accept me, and who make living the daily exercise of redefining things. Thank you, especially, for making me laugh. I gladly and gratefully call you my friends. A special word of thanks goes to Linsen Loots for proofreading my work on short notice. The writing of this thesis was an exciting, challenging and enriching experience. Thank you to Dr Robert Vosloo for guiding me in this task, for providing insight on the way, and for introducing me to the wealth of academic theology. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Engaging Paul Ricoeur‟s work on memory, history, and forgetting: ........................... 1 in search of an adequate methodology for church and theological historiography ..... 1 DECLARATION .......................................................................................................... 2 CHAPTER 1 ............................................................................................................... 9 SOUTH AFRICAN CHURCH AND THEOLOGICAL HISTORIOGRAPHY: CHALLENGED BY A HERMENEUTICAL DEFICIT ................................................... 9 1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 9 2. Historiography as an act of sense-making .................................................. 10 3. South African church and theological historiography .................................. 12 4. Towards a responsible historical hermeneutic ............................................ 15 5. The promise of Paul Ricoeur‟s thought for a responsible historical hermeneutic .......................................................................................................... 18 5.1. Memory ...................................................................................................... 19 5.2. History ........................................................................................................ 21 5.3. Forgetting ................................................................................................... 22 6. Ricoeur and theology .................................................................................. 23 CHAPTER 2 ............................................................................................................. 26 RICOEUR‟S INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY ............................................................ 26 1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 26 2. Ricoeur‟s early years ................................................................................... 28 3. A hermeneutical phenomenology: between freedom and nature ................ 31 4. The hermeneutical turn ............................................................................... 33 5. Rediscovering the role of narrative .............................................................. 38 6. Memory and mourning, melancholy and forgetting ..................................... 43 CHAPTER 3 ............................................................................................................. 45 MEMORY, HISTORY, FORGETTING: RICOEUR‟S ARGUMENT ........................... 45 6 1. The Phenomenon of Memory ............................................................................ 46 1.1. Memory as a phenomenon in Western philosophy: the entanglement of memory and imagination ...................................................................................... 46 1.2. The uses and abuses of memory ................................................................ 50 1.3. The memory of the individual or the memory of the collective .................... 53 1.4. The attribution of memory: ego, collectives, and close relations ................. 56 2. Knowing History: The Epistemology of Historical Knowledge ........................... 59 2.1. The ambiguity of historical knowledge: Plato‟s Phaedrus ........................... 61 2.2. The documentary phase ............................................................................. 63 2.2.1. The movement from memory to history on the level of space and time 63 2.2.2. The notion of testimony in Ricoeur‟s work ............................................ 68 2.2.3. From testimony to archive ......................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Catalogue of Titles of Works Attributed to Aristotle
    Catalogue of Titles of works attributed by Aristotle 1 To enhance readability of the translations and usability of the catalogues, I have inserted the following bold headings into the lists. These have no authority in any manuscript, but are based on a theory about the composition of the lists described in chapter 3. The text and numbering follows that of O. Gigon, Librorum deperditorum fragmenta. PART ONE: Titles in Diogenes Laertius (D) I. Universal works (ta kathalou) A. The treatises (ta syntagmatika) 1. The dialogues or exoterica (ta dialogika ex terika) 2. The works in propria persona or lectures (ta autopros pa akroamatika) a. Instrumental works (ta organika) b. Practical works (ta praktika) c. Productive Works (ta poi tika) d. Theoretical works (ta the r tika) . Natural philosophy (ta physiologia) . Mathematics (ta math matika) B. Notebooks (ta hypomn matika) II. Intermediate works (ta metaxu) III. Particular works (ta merika) PART TWO: Titles in the Vita Hesychii (H) This list is organized in the same way as D, with two exceptions. First, IA2c “productive works” has dropped out. Second, there is an appendix, organized as follows: IV. Appendix A. Intermediate or Particular works B. Treatises C. Notebooks D. Falsely ascribed works PART THREE: Titles in Ptolemy al-Garib (A) This list is organized in the same way as D, except it contains none of the Intermediate or Particular works. It was written in Arabic, and later translated into Latin, and then reconstructed into Greek, which I here translate. PART FOUR: Titles in the order of Bekker (B) The modern edition contains works only in IA2 (“the works in propria persona”), and replaces the theoretical works before the practical and productive, as follows.
    [Show full text]
  • As Above, So Below. Astrology and the Inquisition in Seventeenth-Century New Spain
    Department of History and Civilization As Above, So Below. Astrology and the Inquisition in Seventeenth-Century New Spain Ana Avalos Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Florence, February 2007 EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE Department of History and Civilization As Above, So Below. Astrology and the Inquisition in Seventeenth-Century New Spain Ana Avalos Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Examining Board: Prof. Peter Becker, Johannes-Kepler-Universität Linz Institut für Neuere Geschichte und Zeitgeschichte (Supervisor) Prof. Víctor Navarro Brotons, Istituto de Historia de la Ciencia y Documentación “López Piñero” (External Supervisor) Prof. Antonella Romano, European University Institute Prof. Perla Chinchilla Pawling, Universidad Iberoamericana © 2007, Ana Avalos No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author A Bernardo y Lupita. ‘That which is above is like that which is below and that which is below is like that which is above, to achieve the wonders of the one thing…’ Hermes Trismegistus Contents Acknowledgements 4 Abbreviations 5 Introduction 6 1. The place of astrology in the history of the Scientific Revolution 7 2. The place of astrology in the history of the Inquisition 13 3. Astrology and the Inquisition in seventeenth-century New Spain 17 Chapter 1. Early Modern Astrology: a Question of Discipline? 24 1.1. The astrological tradition 27 1.2. Astrological practice 32 1.3. Astrology and medicine in the New World 41 1.4.
    [Show full text]
  • Berber Bevernage
    Published in History and Theory, 47 (2008), 2, pp. 149-167. TIME, PRESENCE, AND HISTORICAL INJUSTICE BERBER BEVERNAGE For what seems apparent in former Yugoslavia, in Rwanda and in South Africa is that the past continues to torment because it is not past. These places are not living in a serial order of time, but in a simultaneous one, in which the past and present are a continuous, agglutinated mass of fantasies, distortions, myths and lies. Crimes can never be safely fixed in the historical past; they remain locked in the eternal present, crying out for vengeance.1 ABSTRACT The relationship between history and justice traditionally has been dominated by the idea of the past as distant or absent (and with that, irreversible). This ambiguous ontological status makes it very difficult to situate the often-felt “duty to remember” or obligation to “do justice to the past” in that past itself, and this has led philosophers from Friedrich Nietzsche to Keith Jenkins to plead against an “obsession” with history in favor of an ethics aimed at the present. History’s ability to contribute to the quest for justice, as a result, often seems very restricted or even nonexistent. The introduction of the “presence”-paradigm in historiography can potentially alter this relation between history and justice. However, to do so it should be conceived in such a way that it offers a fundamental critique of the metaphysical dichotomy between the present and the absent and the underlying concept of time (chronosophy) that supports this dichotomy. The “presence”-paradigm can be emancipatory and productive only if presence and absence are not perceived as absolute dichotomies.
    [Show full text]
  • Description of the Dissertation Project
    CONSTRUCT REPRESENTATION OF SELF-REPORT FUTURE TIME PERSPECTIVE FOR WORK AND RETIREMENT SCHOLARSHIP A Dissertation Thesis Presented to The Academic Faculty By Matthew James Kerry In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology Georgia Institute of Technology May, 2015 Copyright © Matthew James Kerry 2015 Construct Representation of Self-Report Future Time Perspective for Work and Retirement Scholarship Dr. Susan E. Embretson, Advisor Dr. Rustin Meyer School of Psychology School of Psychology Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Jack M. Feldman Dr. David M. Sluss School of Psychology College of Management Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Audrey Duarte School of Psychology Georgia Institute of Technology Date Approved: December 10th, 2014 For Larry For Kathrin For Ludo ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I must first thank my advisor, Susan Embretson, for the immense encouragement, patient mentoring, and steadfast support rendered to me in a delicate time. I am grateful for the provocative engagements as much as for the congenial conversations. I am further humbled and privileged as a student to the field of psychometric assessment – innervating me to rediscover rational inquiry-cum-legitimate empiricism in the social sciences. A new plane for practice and research. I am grateful now and always - thank you. I would also like to acknowledge and give special thanks to my committee members – Drs. Rustin Meyer, David Sluss, Jack Feldman, and Audrey Duarte. All of these members have influenced my maturation as a scientist and the development of this thesis. To my family, thank you for seeing me through.
    [Show full text]
  • Cognitive Functions of the Brain: Perception, Attention and Memory
    IFM LAB TUTORIAL SERIES # 6, COPYRIGHT c IFM LAB Cognitive Functions of the Brain: Perception, Attention and Memory Jiawei Zhang [email protected] Founder and Director Information Fusion and Mining Laboratory (First Version: May 2019; Revision: May 2019.) Abstract This is a follow-up tutorial article of [17] and [16], in this paper, we will introduce several important cognitive functions of the brain. Brain cognitive functions are the mental processes that allow us to receive, select, store, transform, develop, and recover information that we've received from external stimuli. This process allows us to understand and to relate to the world more effectively. Cognitive functions are brain-based skills we need to carry out any task from the simplest to the most complex. They are related with the mechanisms of how we learn, remember, problem-solve, and pay attention, etc. To be more specific, in this paper, we will talk about the perception, attention and memory functions of the human brain. Several other brain cognitive functions, e.g., arousal, decision making, natural language, motor coordination, planning, problem solving and thinking, will be added to this paper in the later versions, respectively. Many of the materials used in this paper are from wikipedia and several other neuroscience introductory articles, which will be properly cited in this paper. This is the last of the three tutorial articles about the brain. The readers are suggested to read this paper after the previous two tutorial articles on brain structure and functions [17] as well as the brain basic neural units [16]. Keywords: The Brain; Cognitive Function; Consciousness; Attention; Learning; Memory Contents 1 Introduction 2 2 Perception 3 2.1 Detailed Process of Perception .
    [Show full text]
  • A Theology of Memory: the Concept of Memory in the Greek Experience of the Divine
    A Theology of Memory: The Concept of Memory in the Greek Experience of the Divine Master’s Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Department of Classical Studies Leonard Muellner, Advisor In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For Master’s Degree by Michiel van Veldhuizen May 2012 ABSTRACT A Theology of Memory: The Concept of Memory in the Greek Experience of the Divine A thesis presented to the Department of Classical Studies Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Waltham, Massachusetts By Michiel van Veldhuizen To the ancient Greek mind, memory is not just concerned with remembering events in the past, but also concerns knowledge about the present, and even the future. Through a structural analysis of memory in Greek mythology and philosophy, we may come to discern the particular role memory plays as the facilitator of vertical movement, throwing a bridge between the realms of humans and gods. The concept of memory thus plays a significant role in the Greek experience of the divine, as one of the vertical bridges that relates mortality and divinity. In the theology of Mnemosyne, who is Memory herself and mother of the Muses, memory connects not only to the singer-poet’s religiously efficacious speech of prophetic omniscience, but also to the idea of Truth itself. The domain of memory, then, shapes the way in which humans have access to the divine, the vertical dimension of which is expliticly expressed in the descent-ascent of the ritual passage of initiation. The present study thus lays bare the theology of Memory.
    [Show full text]
  • Pdf (20.5.2009)
    Notes 1 Introduction 1. Quoted after Rosenberg et al. (1991, p. 283). 2. Magnis-Suseno (1989, pp. 61ff.). 3. Lyotard (1984). 4. Reprinted in German, English, and Spanish in Dietrich et al. (2006). 5. In this manner, for example, Eliade (1976, pp. 69–83). 6. The Germanic term fridu, from which the contemporary German word Frieden derives, which in its current connotations is charged with the mean- ings of pax, originally meant something very different. This will be the sub- ject of my investigation. 7. Douglas-Klotz (2001, pp. 1–5). 8. In his unpublished memoirs, my father addressed this core question of his life extensively. 9. Very well documented in Kreuzer and Haller (1982, pp. 12ff.). 10. Wittgenstein, 2005 proposition 7. 11. Perls (1969, p. 14). 12. Habermas (1976). 13. “Academic Karrner” would be a description with which I could identify, in view of all the time of my life I have spent in train carriages, busses, or cars – all Karren [carts] in the larger sense of the word. Yet this would be an unnecessary provocation for all those for whom the term carries a different emotional connotation. 14. Wittgenstein (2005, proposition 5.6). 15. Ellis (2000). 16. Since 1994 there has been a professional journal in the German-speaking area with this focus, the Fachzeitschrift Transpersonale Psychologie und Psychotherapie – Wissenschaft des Bewusstseins. 17. 1930 to 2000. Under his civil name, Richard Dorin Shoulders, known as the founder of dehypnotherapy, which emerged out of the approaches of Gestalt therapy and holotropic breathing. It is related to the techniques of neurolinguistic programming and neurolinguistic psychotherapy.
    [Show full text]
  • “Social Change?
    “SOCIAL CHANGE? A. Estado, Poderes e Sociedade E. Cultura, Comunicação e Transformação dos Saberes B. Estruturas Produtivas, Trabalho e Profissões F. Família, Género e Afectos C. Educação e Desenvolvimento G. Teorias, Modelos e Metodologias D. Território, Ambiente e Dinâmicas Regionais e Locais Sessões Plenárias “SOCIAL CHANGE? Change is eternal. Nothing ever changes.” Immanuel Wallerstein I have included in my title the opening sentences of The Modern World-System: “Change is eternal. Nothing ever changes.” It is a theme that seems to me to be central to our modern in•tellectual endeavour. That change is eternal is the defining belief of the modern world. That nothing ever changes is the re•current wail of all those who have been disabused of the so-called progress of modern times. But it is also a recurrent theme of the universalising scientific ethos. In any case, both state•ments are intended to be assertions about empirical reality. And of course both often, even usually, reflect normative preferen•ces. The empirical evidence is very incomplete and ultimately un•convincing. For one thing, the kind of evidence one can offer and the conclusions one can draw from the evidence seem to depend on the time periods measured. Measurement over short periods of time in some ways best captures the enormity of social change. Who does not think that the world looks different in 1996 from 1966? And even more from 1936? Not to speak of 1906? One need only look at Portugal — its political system, its economic activities, its cultural norms. And yet of course in many ways Portugal has changed very little.
    [Show full text]
  • Barnes, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J
    PHYSICS Aristotle The Complete Works of Aristotle Electronic markup by Jamie L. Spriggs InteLex Corporation P.O. Box 859, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22902-0859, USA Available via ftp or on Macintosh or DOS CD-ROM from the publisher. Complete Works (Aristotle). Jonathan Barnes, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1991. These texts are part of the Past Masters series. This series is an attempt to collect the most important texts in the his- tory of philosophy, both in original language and English translation (if the original language is other English). All Greek has been transliterated and is delimited with the term tag. May 1996 Jamie L. Spriggs, InteLex Corp. publisher Converted from Folio Flat File to TEI.2-compatible SGML; checked against print text; parsed against local ”teilite” dtd. THE COMPLETE WORKS OF ARISTOTLE THE REVISED OXFORD TRANSLATION Edited by JONATHAN BARNES VOLUME ONE BOLLINGEN SERIES LXXI 2 PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © 1984 by The Jowett Copyright Trustees Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William St., Princeton, New Jersey In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Oxford No part of this electronic edition may be printed without written permission from The Jowett Copyright Trustees and Princeton University Press. All Rights Reserved THIS IS PART TWO OF THE SEVENTY-FIRST IN A SERIES OF WORKS SPONSORED BY BOLLINGEN FOUN- DATION Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey Second Printing, 1985 Fourth Printing, 1991 9 8 7 6 5 4 Contents Preface ................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................ v Note to the Reader ............................ vi PHYSICS ................................. 2 BOOK I ............................... 2 BOOK II .............................
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Representations of Transnational Violence
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Representations of Transnational Violence: Children in Contemporary Latin American Film, Literature, and Drawings A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Languages and Literatures by Cheri Marie Robinson 2017 © Copyright by Cheri Marie Robinson 2017 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Representations of Transnational Violence: Children in Contemporary Latin American Film, Literature, and Drawings by Cheri Marie Robinson Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Languages and Literatures University of California, Los Angeles, 2017 Professor Adriana J. Bergero, Chair In this study, I examine representational strategies revolving around extreme violence and child/adolescent protagonists in films, literature, children’s drawings, and legal/political discourses in contemporary Latin American culture from an interdisciplinary approach. I analyze the mobilizing potential and uses of representations of child protagonists affected by violence and the cultures of impunity that facilitate its circulation. Within the works selected, I explore ways in which children can become sites of memory and justice through acts of witnessing, empathy, and the universal claim of natural law, with a primary focus on transnational and multidirectional depictions of violence (i.e. a violence in circulation) in extra-juridical, politicized, or aberrant environments in Latin American works. The historical periods contextualizing this study include the Argentine military dictatorship (1976-1983) and its interconnectedness to the violence of WWII and the Holocaust in Reina Roffé’s “La noche en blanco” (Chapter 1), the impact of ii transnational trajectories of genocidal violence in Argentine South Patagonia in 1959-1960 as depicted by Lucía Puenzo’s novel Wakolda (Chapter 2), Argentina’s transition to democracy (1990s) and the critical questions it raised regarding appropriated children and amnesty/justice in Dir.
    [Show full text]
  • Aristotle on Time, Temporal Perception, Recollection, And
    THE TIME OF OUR LIVES: ARISTOTLE ON TIME, TEMPORAL PERCEPTION, RECOLLECTION, AND HABITUATION. By MICHAEL BRUDER, B.A., M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University © Copyright by Michael Bruder, July 2011 PhD Thesis – M. Bruder McMaster - Philosophy DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2011) McMaster University (Philosophy) Hamilton Ontario TITLE: The Time of Our Lives: Aristotle on Time, Temporal Perception, Recollection, and Habituation. AUTHOR: Michael A. Bruder B.A. (Trent), M.A. (Windsor) SUPERVISOR: Professor Spiro Panagiotou NUMBER OF PAGES: v, 128 ii PhD Thesis – M. Bruder McMaster - Philosophy ABSTRACT: In Physics IV, Aristotle poses the question whether time depends on mind for its existence (223a25-27). This thesis begins by arguing that Aristotle‟s account of time is, in fact, one in which time is mind-dependent. The remainder of the thesis demonstrates how this interpretation of time informs and explains Aristotle‟s accounts of perception, recollection, and habituation. The thesis is divided into four chapters, each dealing in detail with the topics of time, perception, recollection, and habituation. In Chapter One I argue that time is a phenomenon which requires minds in order to be actualized. In the second chapter I argue that time, as mind-dependent, is an incidental object of perception perceived by the common sense, and that this is consistent with Aristotle‟s description of perception in De Anima. Chapter Three provides arguments that recollection, as understood in De Memoria, is a capacity which allows for the association between present perceptions and memory-images.
    [Show full text]
  • Worlds Apart: Ursula K. Le Guin and the Possibility of Method
    05-235 Ch 02.qxd 5/24/05 3:08 PM Page 37 • 2 • Worlds Apart: Ursula K. Le Guin and the Possibility of Method Simon Stow This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, liv- ing or dead, is entirely coincidental.1 Despite this disclaimer, printed on the copyright page of Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, the novel has almost always been regarded as an account of the promise and problems of an anarchist society.2 In many of the critical and polit- ical responses to the novel there has, that is to say, been a conflation between the world of the text and the world in which that text is written—between what the anarchist theorist Paul Goodman called the written and the unwritten worlds3— one that makes the former stand in for the latter, undermining or simply ignor- ing the value of the legal claim made at the outset of the novel. In this moment of tension between the disclaimer and the conflation we see both the complex- ity of the relationship between Goodman’s two worlds—how the distinction be- tween them is less clear cut than some would have us believe4—and the problem of utopia in political theory: either the disclaimer is embraced, and the two worlds are seen as entirely separate, with utopia becoming little more than a thought experiment with minor import for our everyday lives; or it is ignored, and the utopia is seen as a detailed blueprint for a future society.
    [Show full text]