Ownership of memory: brief notations about the contributions of Maurice Halbwachs and Paul Ricoeur

Abstract

Memory, as an object of investigation within the scientific field, emerges from countless discussions, at the time when it assumes its social role of safeguarding information and experiences, evoking the past and keeping the lived. The main objective of this study is to discuss briefly the ownership of memory, recognized in two fields: the individual and the collective. A priori, for the purpose of understanding, a brief theorization about memory and some of its understandings for authors in their respective fields of study will be presented. After this introductory part is over, it opens up for a discussion about two very specific approaches to ownership; the first in Mauricie Halbwachs (2006), and the second in Paul Ricoeur (2007). Based on the contribution of the two exponents, we sought to find the point of similarity between them. It was verified, after the proposed bibliographic study, that the ideas of the two converge to a very close field, of what it was sought to defend about the memory in their collective field: the understanding that the individual is always in his surroundings conveyed to people , which directly or indirectly help him evoke his memories due to the experiences of what had been lived, whether the collective is a group, the others, or the next.