Editorial

 Memorandum: memory and history in psychology
Number 6

  The complexity of the structure of the human being

This sixth number of Memorandum preesents some conceptual and methodological contributions regarding the construction of knowledge about the human being in its complexity, documenting the richness of interdisciplinarity.

Initially, it is presented the contribution of phenomenology. In the conceptual field,  the article Alteridade, filosofia, mística: entre fenomenologia e epistemologia, written by Patrizia Manganaro, poses a philosophical question regarding the mystical experience and its relationships with the theme of otherness, using also the  epistemological perspective.  Based on empirical experiences in the ambit of popular communities, the elaboration of experience and collective memory of meaningful “presences” are presented in two articles: A devoção a Nossa Senhora de Nazareth a partir da elaboração da experiência ontológica de moradores de uma comunidade tradicional written by Renata Amaral Araújo and Miguel Mahfoud, in which the concept of person is employed, emphasizing how the personal dimension and the religious experience are apprehended in the world-of-life; and the article A memória de um padre exorcista: relatos da colônia de Cascalho, written by Márcio Luiz Fernandes e Marina Massimi, which analyzes the phenomenom of permanence of a meaningful presence in the history of a community through living connections between history and memory of a social group.

Following, three contributions inherent to the knowledge of the human being in its complexity, now considered from a historical perspective. A composição dos elementos: uma tradução do “De Mixtione Elementorum” de Tomás de Aquino written by Mauro Martins Amatuzzi, presents a translation and critical edition of a Medieval text which is very important for the history of Psyhology because it establishes theoretical basis on which,  according to the author, a more complex structure of the human being was conceived. The article Lo “spirituale ammaestramento” di Federico Borromeo alla città di Milano: la questione antropologica, written by Marzia Giuliani, discusses what is called nowadays philosophical anthropology of an important intelectual and religious Italian of the Modern Age, who exalts the fullness of the human being as an unity of body and soul, which was to be developed on a path towards pefection. The article Fontes para difusão das idéias psicológicas em Minas Gerais entre 1830 e 1930, written by Denise Maria Nepomuceno and Regina Helena de Freitas Campos, presents results of a research in history of Psychology containing relevant survey about the attempt of apprehending the human being through the psychological science of that period.

Last, but not least, a review written by the anthropologist Pierre Sanchis about the book “Folia de Reis: festa raiz: psychology and religious experience in the Ecological Station Juréia-Itatins” emphasizing the methodological challenges. And a note, written by Marina Massimi and Regina Helena de Freitas Campos, communicating the decease, on January 18th of the current year, and paying homage to the great master of history of Psychology Josef Brozek.

 Miguel Mahfoud
Marina Massimi
Editors
April of 2004