When the past becomes future-like: A phenomenological study of memory, time, and self-familiarity

Matthew James Ratcliffe

doi:10.1007/s11007-024-09661-3

When the past becomes future-like: A phenomenological study of memory, time, and self-familiarity

Matthew James Ratcliffe

Philosophy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This paper sets out a phenomenological account of how the autobiographical past can, on occasion, assume certain future-like qualities. I begin by reflecting on the analogy of a bore wave, as employed in a novel by Julian Barnes. Building on this, I turn to Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre in order to address how our memories are revised in light of our current concerns and vice versa. Then, by adapting Edmund Husserl’s conception of temporal “protention”, I show how acts of remembering are integral to a process of ongoing reconciliation between our current orientation towards the future and the autobiographical past. They sustain, disrupt, and reconsolidate a non-localised, dynamic sense of who we are, in ways that are inseparable from how we experience time.

Original language	English
Number of pages	20
Journal	Continental Philosophy Review
Early online date	9 Nov 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11007-024-09661-3
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 9 Nov 2024

Bibliographical note

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10.1007/s11007-024-09661-3Licence: CC BY

When the past becomes future-like: A phenomenological study of memory, time, and self-familiarity
© The Author(s) 2024
Final published version, 877 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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