Errare humanum est: o erro na metodologia das humanidades

Abstract

Erratic behavior and erratic reasoning often have a pejorative sense; between the Wandering Jew, named Aasvero or Ahasverus, and the erratic thought we find the same kind of punishment. «Errare humanum est» is also part of common sense: human behavior is considered erratic by nature. Kant describes man with a significant metaphor: he is a log. The error has however a third categorization: it is no longer a fault or a fatality, but also functionality. To philosophers or travelers, error and wander became synonymous with independence, coherence and method. In areas as different as critical edition, literary historiography or creative writing, mistake is considered a strategy for a good «methodology», word that means, etymologically, a knowledge (-logos) accomplished by (meta-) the way (-odos-).