REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING: DESCRIPTION AND CRITIQUE by Dr. Keith D’Souza

REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING: DESCRIPTION AND CRITIQUE 

Abstract
This essay provides a description and critique of the phenomena of remembering and forgetting. At the descriptive level, memory can be seen to be instrumental in the areas of identity and cultural formation, social and professional role recognition, interpersonal relationships, historiography, etc. While memory is a mixed blessing, the task of remembering has prescriptive or normative dimensions, such as the need to adequately record or report the events of the past while composing a historical narrative or providing juridical testimony. It may also be necessary to engage in forms of personal and social amnesty. Hence, remembering and forgetting are not always value neutral processes; instead they depend on interpretive strategies that may use the data of the past towards the creation of positive mentalities and healthy human relationships in the present.


Keith D’Souza, “Remembering and Forgetting: Description and Critique” in Tradition and Innovation: Philosophy of Rootedness and Openness, ed. Saju Chackalackal, 65-86, Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, 2011.