Silence, remembering, and forgetting in Wittgenstein, Cage, and Derrida
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review
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Beyond memory: Silence and the Aesthetics of Remembrance. ed. / Alexandre Dessingué; Jay Winter. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2016. p. 95-110 6 (Routledge Approaches to History; Vol. 13).
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review
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TY - CHAP
T1 - Silence, remembering, and forgetting in Wittgenstein, Cage, and Derrida
AU - Hobuß, Steffi
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - The relationship between silence, remembering, and forgetting is an import ant topic in memory studies as well as in the philosophy of culture, a discourse that has recently been very much concerned with, as indicated by the increasing numbers of publications in the field, the question of passivity and the concept of the pathic (Roth 2011; Hobuß and Tams 2014: 7-28). In this context, critics have raised a variety of objections to theories of performativity, namely that they allegedly neglect the dimensions of the passive, the aesthetic, and silence. Responding to these objections, this essay examines the combination of the performative and the aesthetic in silence, remembering, and forgetting in the works of Wittgenstein, Cage, and Derrida. It will be shown that every claim that understands silence and speech as simple opposites can be seen as wrong. Or, in the context of memory studies, one could be inclined to equate memory with practices of talking, and, on the other hand, silence with the negation of remembering. But this is wrong in two respects: First, remembering can itself consist of practices of remaining silent, and second, every speech act is based on a basic kind of silence that cannot be fully expressed in language.
AB - The relationship between silence, remembering, and forgetting is an import ant topic in memory studies as well as in the philosophy of culture, a discourse that has recently been very much concerned with, as indicated by the increasing numbers of publications in the field, the question of passivity and the concept of the pathic (Roth 2011; Hobuß and Tams 2014: 7-28). In this context, critics have raised a variety of objections to theories of performativity, namely that they allegedly neglect the dimensions of the passive, the aesthetic, and silence. Responding to these objections, this essay examines the combination of the performative and the aesthetic in silence, remembering, and forgetting in the works of Wittgenstein, Cage, and Derrida. It will be shown that every claim that understands silence and speech as simple opposites can be seen as wrong. Or, in the context of memory studies, one could be inclined to equate memory with practices of talking, and, on the other hand, silence with the negation of remembering. But this is wrong in two respects: First, remembering can itself consist of practices of remaining silent, and second, every speech act is based on a basic kind of silence that cannot be fully expressed in language.
KW - Philosophy
U2 - 10.4324/9781315688503
DO - 10.4324/9781315688503
M3 - Contributions to collected editions/anthologies
SN - 978-1-138-82647-2
T3 - Routledge Approaches to History
SP - 95
EP - 110
BT - Beyond memory
A2 - Dessingué, Alexandre
A2 - Winter, Jay
PB - Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
CY - New York
ER -