La autonomía de la comprensión humanística

Abstract

In this paper I argue that, besides the obvious distinctions in their respective vocabularies, the differences between humanistic and scientific knowledge are thinner than is usually recognized. This doesn’t mean, and is not equivalent to the claim, that there is a theoretical, methodological or ontological reduction, or that is senseless to talk about the conceptual autonomy of humanistic knowledge. In this sense, there is continuity between philosophy, the rest of the humanities, and scientific inquiry; this is not incompatible with the autonomy of humanistic knowledge. An interpretation of the distinction between homonomic and heteronomic knowledge sets the stage for a compatibilist view of humanistic and scientific knowledge. Non-linguistic differences among disciplines are of grade rather than of nature. Humanistic autonomy, in consequence, can be restated without revisionist temptations.