7 research outputs found
The concept of remembrance in Walter Benjamin
This thesis argues that the role played by the concept of remembrance (Eingedenken)
in Walter Benjamin's 'theory of the knowledge of history' and in his engagement with
Enlightenment universal history, is a crucial one. The implications of Benjamin's
contention that history's 'original vocation' is 'remembrance' have hitherto gone
largely unnoticed. The following thesis explores the meaning of the concept of
remembrance and assesses the significance of this proposed link between history and
memory, looking at both the mnemonic aspect of history and the historical facets of
memory. It argues that by mobilising the simultaneously destructive and constructive
capacities of remembrance, Benjamin sought to develop a critical historiography
which would enable a radical encounter with a previously suppressed past. In so doing
he takes up a stance (explicit and implicit) towards existing philosophical conceptions
of history, in particular the idea of universal history found in German Idealism.
Benjamin reveals an intention to retain the epistemological aspirations of universal
history whilst ridding that approach of its apologetic moment. He criticises existing
conceptions of history on the basis that each assumes homogeneous time to be the
framework in which historical events occur. Insight into the distinctive temporality of
remembrance proves to be the touchstone for this critique, and provides a paradigm
for a very different conception of time. The thesis goes on to determine what is valid
and what is problematic both in this concept of remembrance and in the theory of
historical knowledge which it informs, by subjecting both to the most cogent
criticisms which can be levelled at them. What emerges is not only the importance of
this concept for an understanding of Benjamin's philosophy but the pertinence of this
concept for any philosophical account of memory
Electrophysiological correlates of object location and object identity processing in spatial scenes
Contains fulltext :
102496.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)The ability to quickly detect changes in our surroundings has been crucial to human adaption and survival. In everyday life we often need to identify whether an object is new and if an object has changed its location. In the current event-related potential (ERP) study we investigated the electrophysiological correlates and the time course in detecting different types of changes of an objecṫs location and identity. In a delayed match-to-sample task participants had to indicate whether two consecutive scenes containing a road, a house, and two objects, were either the same or different. In six randomly intermixed conditions the second scene was identical, one of the objects had changed its identity, one of the objects had changed its location, or the objects had switched locations. The results reveal different time courses for the processing of identity and location changes in spatial scenes. Whereas location changes elicited a posterior N2 effect, indicating early mismatch detection, followed by a P3 effect reflecting post-perceptual processing, identity changes elicited an anterior N3 effect, which was delayed and functionally distinct from the N2 effect found for the location changes. The condition in which two objects switched position elicited a late ERP effect, reflected by a P3 effect similar to that obtained for the location changes. In sum, this study is the first to cohesively show different time courses for the processing of location changes, identity changes, and object switches in spatial scenes, which manifest themselves in different electrophysiological correlates.9 p