The Ethics of Forgetting and Remembering in the Digital World through the Eye of the Media

Abstract

Memory is a ‘dualistic entity’, composed of remembering and forgetting, and it is one of the constitutional elements of one’s identity and one’s self (see for instance, James, 1890/1950; Conway, 2005). As much as remembering, forgetting is constitutive in the formation of new identities (Connerton, 2009). A seminal text in the field of memory studies is that of Yates (1966): memory practices are presented as art, and, in Yates’ work, the practical, religious and ethical importance of memory is thoroughly studied. Ricoeur (1999; 2004) offers a deeper study of the importance of forgetting and its socio-political impacts, starting from the history of memories. In his work on ‘forgiveness’, Ricoeur gives forgetting a prominent role in human memory: ‘Could forgetting then no longer be in every respect an enemy of memory, and could memory have to negotiate with forgetting, groping to find the right measure in its balance with forgetting?’ (Ricoeur, 2004: 413). Much of the debate on cultural and collective memory has been shaped by the view, commonly held if not universal, that remembering and commemorating is usually a virtue and that forgetting is a failure2 (Ricoeur, 1999; Connerton, 2009). The idea that forgetting is vital for effective function is, for example, in sharp contrast to the mental reflex of certain computer scientists who maintain that forgetting is a ‘bad thing’ (O’Hara et al., 2006: 356): it is often perceived to be the result of human fragility or a technical problem.