Reflecting on 10 Years of Anamnesis

Dear Editors,

According to Plato, the human soul is immortal, and universal knowledge is embedded within it. Upon death, humans are released of all memories; but upon being reborn, they come to learn (or re-learn) about the world and its metaphysical truths through processes of recollection and remembrance. This theory is known as Plato’s doctrine of anamnesis. For Plato, learning does not consist in acquiring new knowledge, but in rediscovering or recovering past truths. In this framework, when faced with the unknown, we turn toward the past to make sense of it.

My personal view of knowledge-making is decidedly less atomistic and more rooted in our present existence. That said, during my final year as an undergraduate at Colorado College, I imbued the concept with an idiosyncratic meaning: there may be limits to what we are able to learn through recollection and remembrance; but, if nothing else, I do believe that such processes can yield important insight into oneself.

Most of us are familiar with the experience of standing before a threshold – moments when “life as we know it” comes to a halt, yet the future remains unknown to us. While we may sometimes “choose” to step through or beyond such a threshold, more often than not, we are compelled to do so against our willing and choosing. I didn’t know this at the time, but in these moments, Heidegger suggests that we look toward the past to uncover possibilities for the future. In my view, upon doing so, we glean valuable knowledge about ourselves, what we take to be most important, and what we most want to carry with us beyond or through the threshold.

Thresholds manifest in a variety of forms and magnitudes, and throughout our lives, we encounter more than we might choose. In my view, graduating from college unquestionably counts among such thresholds. Anamnesis: The Colorado College Journal of Philosophy was born out of a desire to provide a foothold for students who occupy this liminal space: those on the verge of graduation who are uncertain of what the future holds and/or how it will take shape. It was, and remains, my hope that Anamnesis – and in particular, the skills and passion for philosophical writing that one cultivates through their involvement with the journal – might offer one such thing that students can carry with them from their past into the indeterminacy of the future that awaits them.

Congratulations on 10 years of Anamnesis, and cheers to the next 10!

Sincerely, 

Willow Mindich

Colorado College Class of 2016

Co-Founder of Anamnesis: The Colorado College Journal of Philosophy

Ph.D. Candidate in Philosophy at Stony Brook University