Anamnesis (an’-am-nee’-sis): Calling to memory past matters. More specifically, citing a past author [apparently] from memory. Anamnesis helps to establish ethos [credibility], since it conveys the idea that the speaker is knowledgeable of the received wisdom from the past.
As Friedrich Nietzsche said, “One must have a good memory to be able to keep the promises one makes.” Let’s face it though: one does not need much of a memory to remember the promises that people fail to keep. That said, one should never make promises that one does not intend to keep. I intend to keep my promises and that, my friends, is a promise.
- Post you own anamnesis on the “Comments” page!
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Gorgias has inserted the bracketed words [apparently] and [credibility].
Quotation from “The Quotations Page” (quotationspage.com)
