Memoria and Mimesis

Memoria and mimesis have in common that they are modes of human understanding and symbolic representation of things and events of the world and of experience that have suffered distorted accounts of them as mechanical processes under the control of ‘memorization’and ‘imitation’, respectively. As such, intentionality and creativity in human cognition and language use have often been denied them. The essay aims to demonstrate these tendencies in particular cases, to sketch something of the history of the phenomenon, to suggest how mimesis can be seen at the root of memoria, and to argue for the creative nature of both.