What kind of reality can be attributed to distinctions, classifications, schemes which we use to grasp the meanings constituting the world of literature? What constancy may we ascribe to literary genera or to concepts such as topics, types, classes, characters etc. currently employed by literary critics? Is it possible, in the transition from one classification to another, to find an element of continuity or perhaps even of progress in the interpretation of literary works? These problems are connected with that of the epistemological and methodological status of human sciences (taking this word in its widest possible sense). From this point of view, constancy and reality of schemes or models that we use in interpreting the manifestations of culture are rooted in the unconscious habits or quasi-automatisms that regulate our acting and thinking as cultural beings. Wittgenstein’s view, according to which each new example of a term or rule modifies its intension, thus forcing us to reconsider all previous examples in the light of the new one, is an important contribution to a notion of progress in the human sciences. The best classifications, historical periodizations, translations and so on provide the best historical reconstruction of the past classifications, historical periodizations, translations and so on. And whether or not this applies to a particular instance, it can be established only by a critical discussion which is, in principle, an open-ended process.
Le classificazioni storico-letterarie come problema epistemologico delle scienze umane
BUZZONI, Marco
2011-01-01
Abstract
What kind of reality can be attributed to distinctions, classifications, schemes which we use to grasp the meanings constituting the world of literature? What constancy may we ascribe to literary genera or to concepts such as topics, types, classes, characters etc. currently employed by literary critics? Is it possible, in the transition from one classification to another, to find an element of continuity or perhaps even of progress in the interpretation of literary works? These problems are connected with that of the epistemological and methodological status of human sciences (taking this word in its widest possible sense). From this point of view, constancy and reality of schemes or models that we use in interpreting the manifestations of culture are rooted in the unconscious habits or quasi-automatisms that regulate our acting and thinking as cultural beings. Wittgenstein’s view, according to which each new example of a term or rule modifies its intension, thus forcing us to reconsider all previous examples in the light of the new one, is an important contribution to a notion of progress in the human sciences. The best classifications, historical periodizations, translations and so on provide the best historical reconstruction of the past classifications, historical periodizations, translations and so on. And whether or not this applies to a particular instance, it can be established only by a critical discussion which is, in principle, an open-ended process.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
