Abstract

I intend to motivate discussion on the ways of thought in art and philosophy in terms of a problem characteristic of contemporary culture diagnosed by Plato as the "loss of memory." He referred to the impoverishment of knowledge caused by an exclusive and excessive interest in information as well as by the loss of value in reflection. I examine the problem more closely by referring to a passage in the Phaedrus that shows what Plato meant by "a forgetfulness of the soul" is tantamount to the disconnection of intellectual knowledge from emotion and the body. I reflect on the relation between art and philosophy as well as on the character of philosophical thought as regards the need to "cultivate memory" in our time.