Vol. 31 (2016): The piety of thought. Memory, testimony, forgetfulness

Nowadays, speaking of “the pietas of thinking” could be considered as a reference to a general “religiousness”, to a "devotion" which could remove the dismay that crosses both reality and its questioning. For philosophical thought, “the pietas of thinking” can also refer to a specific way of questioning the present time, the world, man through memory and testimony, and also through forgetfulness (which could be a hidden resource of memory and testimony).

In the course of history, philosophy has always investigated its own process, and because of this it acknowledged that one of its main goals is to be accountable to its work of memory (as implied by the idea of tradition), or to its work of testimony and, again, to its struggle against the forgetfulness which is often the principal cause of the return of ancient violence or fatal ideologies.

Memory, testimony and forgetfulness intersect or intercept debates which involve Europe and the Western World culturally, philosophically, socially and politically, and they commit philosophy to reshape itself in the light of new forthcoming challenges (as, for instance, the question of “forgiveness” or even the problem of memory in the Internet era).