The Significance of Nostalgia for Mediology

Discussions on nostalgia are relatively infrequent, especially in the field of philosophy. Perhaps, the main obstacle is in its ambiguity that was already mentioned: “The ambiguity is evident in nostalgia’s characteristically bittersweet quality, its proclivity for combining regret with longing, a vivid sense of missing with an equally vivid sense of what is missed." However, some rare attempts can be found in medicine (Hofer), classical (Kant, Jankélévitch) and modern philosophy (Casey). These works will be analyzed in the first part of this essay, because thanks to it, features of nostalgia will be described. The second part will be an explanation of the role of nostalgia in mediology, therefore Régis Debray’s writings will be used. Thus, what mediology is - will be described at the beginning of the second section. The novelty of this essay is that its aim is to introduce nostalgia as a term of mediology. It will contribute to the further development of this philosophy, because the nexus of terms will be more clearly presented for the reader and anyone, who is interested in mediology.