Abstract

The paper argues that the development of recording data over the following five thousand years can be regarded as chapters in a basically continuous narrative. This continuity explains why Plato's reflections on the oral and the written, and Aristotle's remarks on memory and reminiscence, are still relevant in our globalised world. In the conclusion, the paper comments on Paul Ricoeur's attempt to bridge the gap between memory, history, and forgetting, as well as on its controversial political implications.