A memory is no different from a representation. A memory can be indistinguishable from an artefact – a thing done with craft. When the fool looks at the pointing finger, when, that is, we question the very act of remembering, the punctum – the alterity – of the memory strikes. The pointing finger, remembering, points towards… The alterity prevalent in memory, in any memory, which points towards the Alter, is indistinguishable from ‘the photographic’ evinced while looking at an image, perhaps a photograph. We did previously say that ‘the photographic’ is the alterity of a representation (see here).
I open the door. And I find myself in the Atlantic Ocean, at a depth of 1000 meters. No, that cannot be! I open the door, and should find a corridor waiting for me, for me to walk along and reach the staff bathrooms. That is logical.
But it is only logical because it happens to be so. And it happens to be so only because it has to be so. But it has to be so only because it happens to be so. Time may be illogical; it is awarded the logical only because light is obvious. If Time is apparent logic, then Time is not. But what about Being? If Time is not, Being is not too. Indeed, both Time and Being are not. I am my reflection in the Other’s eyes.
Heidegger, Being is not concerned with its Being; being is concern for the Being of the Other. The Other is of my concern. Why Alterity? Why not?
Featured Image:
Available at: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0052948/mediaviewer/rm1840604672
