This study aims to perform a systematic and theoretical reconstruction of the theory of collective memory of the French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs, which is sparsely contained in his three books on the subject: Les Cadres de la Mémoire Sociaux (1925), La Topographie des Léngendaire Evangiles en Terre Sainte (1941) and the posthumous La Mémoire Collective (1950). In order to accomplish this aim, we tracked and reconstructed the intellectual scene of that time that dealt with the subject of memory within the Humanities, Psychology, and Philosophy. Moreover, we analyzed Halbwachs' main intellectual influences, namely, Durkheim and Bergson, in order to demonstrate the problems that he sought to answer. The dissertation's core is the reconstruction of the theory of collective memory, tracking and reconstructing it´s main concepts: collective memory, individual memory and the groups. We demonstrated the articulation of these concepts in a historical case: the formation of the Christian collective memory (which is also examined by Halbwachs in his writings). Once the theory was rebuilt and demonstrated, we defined the concept of ´collective memory´ contrasting it with other terms such as, ´social memory´, ´cultural memory´, ´tradition´, ´myth´, ´history´, and ´knowledge´. Lastly we tried to match the halbwachsian conception of memory to actual theories of mind.
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