Attentiveness

a phenomenological study of the relation of memory to mood

Wayne Froman

pp. 27-38

in: Hagi Kenaan, Ilit Ferber (eds), Philosophy's moods, Berlin, Springer, 2011

Abstract

This paper begins by establishing a phenomenological context by way of the sense of "world." It then explores Heidegger's analysis of mood with respect to one's own "being-in-the-world." Three points are underscored. The first is how mood discloses one's own "being-in-the-world" by way of a "movement away" and a "movement toward" belonging to every mood. The second is how this establishes the philosophical importance of mood by virtue of the way in which it undermines the "metaphysics of presence" characteristic of the philosophical tradition from Greece to the modern age. The third is how in each mood, the "movement away," which Heidegger identifies with forgetting, happens first. These points are illustrated by way of Heidegger's analyses of fear, anxiety and boredom. On Heidegger's understanding, it is the long-standing model of perception that has served as a model for the "metaphysics of presence." The paper explores how Merleau-Ponty's analysis of perception uncovers a "movement away" and a "movement toward" that restores an affective character of perception that pertains to mood. The paper next turns to Levinas's accentuation of a "movement away" at the heart of mood by virtue of which the lived experience before us can only be remembered as a dream. Finally, the paper finds a clue to the basic relation between forgetting and memory in Kafka's literary art.

Cited authors

Merleau-Ponty Maurice

Heidegger Martin

Levinas Emmanuel