The paper presents a comparative analysis of the problem of memory in the philosophy of Karl Jaspers and Paul Ricœur. The author’s thesis is the existential philosophy of Jaspers was of decisive importance for the formation of Ricœur’s memory discourse. The paper discusses the main dimensions of the problem of memory and guilt in Jaspers’ philosophy, its central concepts in connection with the theme of guilt and self-consciousness, the early works of Ricœur, which directly refer to the existential project of the German philosopher, while attention is paid to the communicative history of philosophy and the doctrine of truth. Based on the results of a comparative study, it is concluded that an important metaphor for Ricœur’s philosophy (as well as for Jaspers) is the metaphor of constant movement and path in communication, which turns into a discourse of memory as an emphasis on the need to understanding work with the past, without which impossible the philosophical consciousness. Ricœur’s memory discourse studies focus on the dialectic of memory and self-consciousness in situations of guilt and forgiveness. It is noted that Ricœur problematizes guilt in relation to the past in an existential sense as a borderline situation. For him, this is the problem of a person’s treatment of himself, the constitution of his identity, his living as a person who can and wants something. The work of memory as the work of self-consciousness and the overcoming of guilt becomes the path to a moral society, as for Jaspers, it acts as the basis for communication and life in truth, communication of “care” for oneself and others.