A questão da memória em santo agostinho e Freud

Abstract

In this study we analyze the coincidences between the theories of Sigmund Freud and Saint Augustine regarding memory and forgetfulness. Themes that already appear in the early works of the African theologian. In De ordine, for instance, he declares the subject as “a slave of the memory". However, after a progress in De magistro, it is in Book X of the Confessiones that such notions are fully developed;and later, in the last Books of De Trinitate, writing about the will. Fifteen centuries later, the inventor of psychoanalysis, especially in subjects covered in The psychopathology of everyday life, theoretically meetsthe bishop of Hippo. Indeed, despite the centuries apart, both thinkers claim that memory is a great power and it is not a passive depository from past experiences, as well as forgetfulness is a great strength, a resistance, and not mere chance.