Anamnesis ( = "recollection,
reminiscence" (literally "loss of forgetfulness") is a term used in
medicine,
philosophy,
psychoanalysis and
religion.
Philosophy
In
philosophy,
Plato
uses the term
anamnesis in the
epistemological and psychological theory that
he develops in his
dialogues Meno and
Phaedo, and alludes to in his
Phaedrus.
Meno
In
Meno, Plato's character (and old teacher)
Socrates is challenged by Meno with what has become
known as the sophistic paradox, or the paradox of knowledge:
- Meno: And how are you going to search for [the nature of
virtue] when you don't know at all what it is, Socrates? Which of
all the things you don't know will you set up as target for your
search? And even if you actually come across it, how will you know
that it is that thing which you don't know?
In other words, if you don't know any of the attributes,
properties, and/or other descriptive markers of any kind that help
signify what something is (physical or otherwise), you won't
recognize it, even if you actually come across it. And, as
consequence, if the converse is true, and you
do know the
attributes, properties and/or other descriptive markers of this
thing, then you shouldn't need to seek it out at all. The result of
this line of thinking is that, in either instance, there is no
point trying to gain that "something"; in the case of Plato's
aforementioned work, there is no point in seeking knowledge.
Socrates' response is to develop his theory of
anamnesis.
He suggests that the
soul is immortal, and
repeatedly
incarnated; knowledge is
actually in the soul from eternity (86b), but each time the soul is
incarnated its knowledge is forgotten in the shock of birth. What
one perceives to be learning, then, is actually the recovery of
what one has forgotten. (Once it has been brought back it is true
belief, to be turned into genuine knowledge by understanding.) And
thus Socrates (and Plato) sees himself, not as a teacher, but as a
midwife, aiding with the birth of
knowledge that was already there in the student.
The theory is illustrated by Socrates asking a slave boy questions
about geometry. At first the boy gives the wrong answer; when this
is pointed out to him, he is puzzled, but by asking questions
Socrates is able to help him to reach the true answer. This is
intended to show that, as the boy wasn't told the answer, he could
only have reached the truth by recollecting what he had already
known but forgotten.
Phaedo
In
Phaedo, Plato develops his theory of
anamnesis, in part by combining it with his theory of
Form. First, he elaborates how
anamnesis can be achieved: whereas in
Meno
nothing more than Socrates' method of questioning is offered, in
Phaedo Plato presents a way of living that would enable
one to overcome the misleading nature of the body through
katharsis (Greek: καθαρσις;
“cleansing” (from guilt or defilement), “purification”). The body
and its senses are the source of error; knowledge can only be
regained through the use of our reason, contemplating things with
the soul (
noesis) (see 66 b–d).
Secondly, he makes clear that genuine knowledge, as opposed to mere
true belief (
doxa), is distinguished by its
content. One can only know eternal truths, for they are the only
truths that can have been in the soul from eternity. Though it can
be very useful to have a true belief about, say, the best way to
get from London to Oxford, such a belief does not qualify as
knowledge; how could the human soul have known for all eternity a
fact about places that have existed for less than 2,000
years?
Neoplatonism
For the later interpreters of Plato,
anamnesis was less an
epistemic assertion than an ontological one.
Plotinus himself did not posit recollection in the
strict sense of the term, because all knowledge of universally
important ideas (
logos) came from a source
outside of time (Dyad or the divine
nous), and
was accessible, by means of contemplation, to the soul as part of
noesis. They were more objects of experience, of
inner knowledge or
insight,
than of recollection. Despite this, in
Neoplatonism, the theory of
anamnesis
became part of the mythology of the descent of the soul.
Porphyry's short work
De
Antro Nympharum (ostensibly a commentary on the brief passage
in
Odyssey 13) elucidated this notion, as did
Macrobius's much longer
Commentary on the
Dream of Scipio. The idea of psychic memory was used by
Neoplatonists to demonstrate the celestial and immaterial origins
of the soul, and to explain how memories of the world-soul could be
recalled by everyday human beings. As such, psychic recollection
was intrinsically connected to the Platonic conception of the soul
itself. Since the contents of individual "material" or physical
memories were trivial, only the universal recollection of Forms, or
divine objects, drew one closer to the immortal source of
being.
Anamnesis is the closest that human minds can come to
experiencing the freedom of the soul prior to its being encumbered
by matter. The process of incarnation is described in Neoplatonism
as a shock that causes the soul to forget its experiences (and
often its divine origins as well).
Religion
"Anamnesis" is used in
Christianity in
reference to the
Eucharist. This has its
origin in
Jesus' words at the
Last Supper, "Do this in memory of me" (
(
Luke ,
1
Corinthians ) and can refer either to the memorial character of
the Eucharist itself or to the part of the service where the
Passion,
Resurrection and
Ascension of Jesus are
remembered.
For example, in the
Divine Liturgy of
Saint John Chrysostom, the anamnesis begins with the words:
- Remembering, therefore, this command of the Saviour [i.e., to
eat and drink in remembrance of him] and all that came to pass for
our sake, the cross, the tomb, the resurrection on the third day,
the ascension into heaven, the enthronement at the right hand of
the Father and the second, glorious coming...
This phrase precedes the
epiklesis, when
the
priest asks
God to
send the
Holy Spirit to change the bread
and wine into the body and blood of Christ. In the
Eastern Orthodox Church, other
services besides the
Divine Liturgy
will have an anamnesis, such as the
Great Sanctification of
Waters at
Theophany.
In most
western Christian
traditions, on the other hand, the anamnesis comes after the
epiklesis.
An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church says of the
anamnesis: "This memorial prayer of remembrance recalls for the
worshipping community past events in their tradition of faith that
are formative for their identity and self-understanding" and makes
particular mention of its place in "the various eucharistic
prayers".
See also
Notes
- Meno 80d
- Friends of Pedro
- Mar Thoma Church
- The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostomos The
Orthodox Christian Page
- catholicbg.org
- An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: A User Friendly
Reference for Episcopalians, Don S. Armentrout and Robert Boak
Slocum, editors.
References
- Plato Phaedo, 1911: edited with introduction and notes
by John Burnet (Oxford: Clarendon Press)
- Jane M. Day 1994 Plato's 'Meno in Focus
(London: Routledge) — contains an introduction and full
translation by Day, together with papers on Meno by
various philosophers
- Don S. Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum [edd], An
Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, A User Friendly Reference for
Episcopalians (New York, Church Publishing Incorporated)
- Jacob Klein, A Commentary on Plato's Meno (Chicago,
1989), pp. 103–173.
- Norman Gulley, Plato's Theory of Knowledge (London,
1962) pp. 1–47.
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