A gramática da história: Wittgenstein, a pragmática da linguagem e o conhecimento histórico

Abstract

Inspired by Wittgenstein’s notions of grammar and pragmatics of language, the purpose of this article is to present the science of history as a “grammar”. Perhaps the general meaning of the notion of grammar of the later Wittgenstein could be expressed as follows: what is logical or rational is expressed in the rules of the grammar of our social behaviors. What is logical or not is said by the grammar. We can extend Wittgenstein’s conception of grammatical rationality to the science of history which in its modus operandican also be understood as a grammar. This “grammar of history” –as a characterization of scientific rationality that inserts meaning into historical processes –can be conceived as a “theory of history” that understands historical processes as a “web”, a flexible and multidirectional network of languages, practices, and interactions that extends through “family resemblances”. This grammatical network is not intended to provide a “complete” intelligibility of a “grand narrative” of the world, but simply to provide an understanding of our condition as beings inserted in the grammaticality of our own history, even though our grammar shares “family resemblances” with other grammars.