Why Should We Remember?

Yom Hashoah and the Impossible Possibility of Memory

Derrida was fond of paradoxes. One of my favorites is that forgiveness is only meaningful if what we forgive is “unforgivable.” Applying Derrida’s formula that “X is possible insofar as it is impossible” in other contexts yields vertiginous results.

Consider this one: We can remember the past only because it is impossible to do so. Were perfect recall p…