Remembering or turning the page
On the axis: Relation to the past · a people's past
Should a society keep alive the memory of its wrongs and its defeats, or must it, to live together, consent to a measure of forgetting?
Justification
works as a test: if a demon told you that you will relive this very life, identically, infinitely, would you curse him, or would it be your greatest joy? To say yes to every instant is : not 's resignation, but the highest affirmation, to love the necessary so much that one wills its eternal return.
My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity.Ecce Homo, "Why I Am So Clever", §10
Ecce Homo, "Why I Am So Clever", §10 · The Gay Science, §276 and §341
Justification
and command us to love the moment enough to will its eternal repetition: the weight falls on the fullness of the affirmed present. A share of project remains, since the is a task to accomplish, but Nietzsche devalues the excess of historical memory that paralyzes action.
The Gay Science, §341 · On the Use and Abuse of History for Life, §1
The philosophers positioned on the axis “Relation to the past”, over time. Hover a dot to read its name.
This problem's anchors
Anchors: Renan · Nietzsche · Ricœur
leads to: Forgiveness (The forgiveness of peoples) · Temporal orientation (The weight of heritage)