PHENOMENON OF MEMORY IN RETROSPECTIVE OF ANTIQUITY

Abstract

The article deals with the formation of understanding and interpretation of the phenomenon of memory in the European philosophical tradition. The historical-cultural and linguistic-semantic connections of the ideological paradigm of Ancient Greek thinkers and philosophers are researched. In article revealded a peculiarities of the main philosophical categories of Plato’s philosophy in the context of explaining the phenomenon of memory and memories. We realized a distinction for better understanding of the phenomenon of memory for ancient culture into two branches: 1) memory as a natural property of man and 2) memory as a technique, as a skill for perfection, as an instrument. We emphasize that ancient categories: eidos, logos and cosmos are the central of the theory of memory of the western tradition, which we can also observe in the treatises left by Plato. Also we analyzed the connection between the Platonian theory of memory and the development of knowledge about memory paradigm. Memory for Plato is determined by a metaphysical character, like immortal knowledge, it is a way of human transcendence. An intelligent soul for Plato is the translator of eternal knowledge of things through which we learn not only the world, but also receive knowledge (remember) about ourselves, our true perceptual perception, and represent our ideas in real forms. The soul of man for Plato, due to memory, connects human existence from outside the physical space and time, where there is simultaneously the past, present and future, which at the metaphysical level are united into a concrete conceptual design of memory. Thus, the Platonic theory of memory as a reproduction of knowledge can not relate to the development of the art of memory, but has a direct connection with the development of the paradigm of knowledge about memory and allows us to understand the concept of memory as a philosophical and cultural phenomenon. We noted that the theory of Plato’s memory resembles the same categories as the art of memory, it is a category of “place” bearing memory-reflection in the memory of the soul and “image” of true knowledge.