Article published In: Dialogue and Ethics
Edited by Ronald C. Arnett and François Cooren
[Language and Dialogue 7:1] 2017
► pp. 120–133
Owning one’s past
From historical knowledge to moral accountability
Published online: 29 June 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.7.1.08rit
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.7.1.08rit
Abstract
In this paper, I engage with the question of historical interpretation as a form of dialogue that can face an individual conscience with disturbing choices and decisions made at an earlier time, and the expectations we might have about a proper response. My paper draws on Paul Ricoeur’s philosophical ideas, as well as on a controversial part of his biography – his alleged involvement in the Petain circle in France in the early 1940s – to propose that instead of thinking about historical knowledge as reconstruction of another time, revelation of beliefs, or even exposure of intentions, we should consider it as a form of dialogical remembering that marks two joint features of subjectivity: fallibility and attestation. My paper does articulate a defense of Ricoeur’s philosophical conception of forgiveness, but offers neither an apology for nor an accusation on moral and political grounds.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Ricoeur: Thoughtful response
- 3.Ricoeur: Wartime writings
References
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