CONTRIBUTI / 2 / Daniel Martínez Lamas
Remembrance of the politics and politics of remembrance. On the concept of memory in Hannah Arendt
This article analyzes a relatively unexplored issue of Hannah Arendt’s political thinking, even though it is constantly present in her reflections on human temporality and permanence in the modern world: the vindication of memory to deal with the loss of historical consciousness due to the breaking of the thread of tradition. Her theory of action and her revival of the meaning of public life in the polis allow a conception of politics as a plural organization of remembrance, which does not seek to restore that tradition, but to create a space where the mortality of actors and the frailty of human affairs can be partially overcome. Further, it is through the stories and narratives that arise from deeds and words that the meaning of these can be understood, within a ‘politics of remembrance’ that contributes to preserve the community over time.
