The zero degree of the humanities

an analysis of the possible scientificity of the humanities

Abstract

The aim of this article is to briefly reflect on the crisis of the human sciences and the so-called death of the humanities in Ivan Domingues. The Zero Degree of Knowledge (1991). To do this, we start from the assumption that the philosopher raises the question of the human sciences or the zero degree of knowledge. Firstly, we will start with the problem of the foundation of the human sciences, in which we will deal with the passage from the Middle Ages (theocentrism) to the beginning of the Modern Age (anthropocentrism), where the passage from nature as a work of creation to the understanding of nature as an object of human control takes place and we will continue by dialoguing with Edmund Husserl on the question of the scientificity of the human sciences and, later, with Michel Foucault (1926-1984), the question of the object of these sciences. Finally, with Ivan Domingues, we will investigate the possibility or lack of a foundation for the humanities, which he characterizes as the zero degree of knowledge. Namely, Valéry's serpent circle that swallows its own tail and the question: is this the condition of the human sciences? We know that Domingues is not content with the conclusion he reached in The Zero Degree of Knowledge (negative answer), but continues his reflection in other works on the foundation of the human sciences, their legitimacy and their scientificity.