El verdadero alcance y contenido de lo inconsciente en las Ciencias Humanas debería ser establecido en referencia a su relación conceptual con la psicología popular que moldea a la forma estándar de explicación allí en juego. Un estudio de dicha relación muestra que los científicos de las Ciencias Humanas deberían apelar al inconsciente solo cuando el lenguaje de lo consciente les falla, esto es, especialmente cuando encuentran un conflicto entre la autocomprensión de las personas y sus acciones. Este estudio muestra también que los científicos de las Ciencias Humanas deberían adoptar un concepto más amplio de lo inconsciente que aquel desarrollado por Freud, es decir, un concepto que esté libre de la concepción freudiana ahistórica de los instintos y su énfasis ahistórico en las experiencias sexuales de la niñez. Lo inconsciente, entendido de esta manera, tiene una r...

“What is a Text? A Pragmatic Theory”. The paper begins by defending a principleof procedural individualism according to which meanings are always subjectiveor inter-subjective.  Texts do not have meanings in themselves, but rather areobjects to which individuals attach various meanings.  Then the paper deploysthis analysis of meaning to address debates about textuality.  It considers thestability of the text: although texts are indeterminate in that future individualsmight attach unforeseen meanings to them, they have determinate content atany given time in that the meanings people have then attached to them arefixed.  And it considers the relationship of textual meaning to authorial meaning:authors and readers alike attach meanings to texts, with confusions arisingwhen philosophers assume that one or other must constitute the meaning ofthe text itself.

“The Unconscious in Social Explanation”. The proper range and contentof the unconscious in the human sciences should be established by referenceto its conceptual relationship to the folk psychology that informs the standardform of explanation therein. A study of this relationship shows that humanscientists should appeal to the unconscious only when the language of theconscious fails them, that is typically when they find a conflict between people’sself-understanding and their actions. This study also shows that human scientistsshould adopt a broader concept of the unconscious than the one developedby Freud, that is, one free from his ahistorical concept of the instincts and hisahistorical emphasis on the sexual experiences of childhood. The unconscious,understood in this way, has an ambiguous relationship to more recent linguisticand narrativist strands of psycho-analysis.

“On Tradition”. Tradition plays a vital role as an ontological and explanatory concept quite apart from its frequent use as a moral and political one. Human scientists often explain features of actions, practices or works by locating them in a tradition, and even scholars who explicitly reject the concept of tradition often adopt related concepts to describe the impact of context upon human activity. It appears, then, that a concept such as tradition, structure, heritage, or paradigm has an important role to play in our understanding of the human condition. This paper analyses this ontological and explanatory concept of tradition. It asks, why do we need such a concept? What content we should give to it? What role does it play in our accounts of human affairs? The analysis takes us away from essentialist accounts of traditions as defined by fixed features toward one that sees them as...

Este artículo comienza defendiendo un principio de individualismo procesal según el cual los significados son siempre subjetivos o intersubjetivos. Los textos no tienen significados por sí mismos, sino que más bien son objetos a los que los individuos atribuyen diversos significados. Luego el artículo despliega este análisis del significado para interrogar debates sobre la textualidad. Considera la estabilidad del texto: aunque los textos son indeterminados en el sentido de que individuos futuros pueden atribuirles a ellos significados imprevistos, tienen un contenido determinado en cualquier tiempo dado en el sentido de que los significados que la gente les ha atribuido en ese momento son fijos. Y considera la relación del significado textual con el significado del autor: ambos, autores y lectores, atribuyen significado a los textos, y surgenlas confusiones cuando los filósofos ...

La tradición juega un papel vital como concepto ontológico y explicativo, además de su frecuente uso como concepto moral o político. Los humanistas suelen explicar las características de las acciones, las prácticas o las labores ubicándolas en una tradición. Incluso los académicos que rechazan explícitamente el concepto de tradición, adoptan con frecuencia conceptos afines para describir el impacto del contexto sobre la actividad humana. Al parecer, pues, un concepto como el de la tradición, la estructura, la herencia o el paradigma, cumple un importante papel en nuestra comprensión de la condición humana. Este artículo analiza ese concepto ontológico y explicativo de la tradición. Se pregunta, ¿por qué necesitamos de tal concepto? ¿Qué contenido deberíamos darle? ¿Qué papel cumple en nuestras consideraciones de los asuntos humanos? El análisis nos con...

“On Tradition”. Tradition plays a vital role as an ontological and explanatory concept quite apart from its frequent use as a moral and political one. Human scientists often explain features of actions, practices or works by locating them in a tradition, and even scholars who explicitly reject the concept of tradition often adopt related concepts to describe the impact of context upon human activity. It appears, then, that a concept such as tradition, structure, heritage, or paradigm has an important role to play in our understanding of the human condition. This paper analyses this ontological and explanatory concept of tradition. It asks, why do we need such a concept? What content we should give to it? What role does it play in our accounts of human affairs? The analysis takes us away from essentialist accounts of traditions as defined by fixed features toward one that sees them as...

“What is a Text? A Pragmatic Theory”. The paper begins by defending a principleof procedural individualism according to which meanings are always subjectiveor inter-subjective.  Texts do not have meanings in themselves, but rather areobjects to which individuals attach various meanings.  Then the paper deploysthis analysis of meaning to address debates about textuality.  It considers thestability of the text: although texts are indeterminate in that future individualsmight attach unforeseen meanings to them, they have determinate content atany given time in that the meanings people have then attached to them arefixed.  And it considers the relationship of textual meaning to authorial meaning:authors and readers alike attach meanings to texts, with confusions arisingwhen philosophers assume that one or other must constitute the meaning ofthe text itself.

“The Unconscious in Social Explanation”. The proper range and contentof the unconscious in the human sciences should be established by referenceto its conceptual relationship to the folk psychology that informs the standardform of explanation therein. A study of this relationship shows that humanscientists should appeal to the unconscious only when the language of theconscious fails them, that is typically when they find a conflict between people’sself-understanding and their actions. This study also shows that human scientistsshould adopt a broader concept of the unconscious than the one developedby Freud, that is, one free from his ahistorical concept of the instincts and hisahistorical emphasis on the sexual experiences of childhood. The unconscious,understood in this way, has an ambiguous relationship to more recent linguisticand narrativist strands of psycho-analysis.