Texts, Readers, Audiences

Texts
1. Written, Spoken, or Mental Texts There is the type/token distinction for any of these three. A text is a series of signs used to convey a meaning. Note the distinction between the conveyer of meaning, and the meaning.

2. Conventional and Natural Texts Conventional texts are intended as meaningful, natural texts are not. However, see "biosemiotics".

3. Linguistic and Non-linguistic Texts A text could be composed of words, or of something else -- pictures, for instance. However, these pictures would ultimately be linguistic if the text is conventional.

4. Universal and Individual Texts Normally, we think of "Bruce" as individual, and "human being" as universal. When it comes to texts, they seem to be both individual and universal. They are historically imbedded -- individual. However, they can have a number of instantiations -- universal. Gracia decides that, except for actual instances of texts, they are universal.

5. The Historian's Text
There are a number of different texts we could be talking about here:

The Contemporary Text: The text as historians have it today, in the original language. This text itself may be an edited version, from several sources or traditions. Of course, this text may well have never been intended by the author, and never actually existed.

The Historical Text: This is the text the author actually wrote. The autograph. Problem: the author often made a variety of alterations at different times.

The Intended Text: This is the text that the author intended to write, but did not. Sometimes, the author does not write what they intended, for a variety of mechanical or psychological reasons. This doesn't necessarily suppose that there is an idea that preceeds the writing, but simply that the writing conditions the idea, just as the stone conditions the sculpture.

The Ideal Text: This is the text the author should have written. If the writer is arguing for a point, but does it badly, the philosopher can sometimes make the argument better. However, this text never has existed. This is important in reconstruction.

Authors
1. The Composite Author This is the author of the contemporary text. It is a composite of the historical author, their scribes from that time to the present, and the current editors.

2. The Historical Author The person that actually wrote the historical text. However, we don't have access to this person. Our knowledge is an approximation.

3. The Pseudo-Historical Author This is the author we think wrote the historical text. Like Pseudo-Dionysius. This author may well put on a mask for the audience.

4. The Interpretive Author This is the author of the ideal text.

Audiences
1. The Author as Audience The author approaches the text as something to be understood and interpreted.

2. The Intended Audience The group for whom the author composes the text. The intended audience may not be real at all, or may be a figment of the author's imagination.

3. The Contemporaneous Audience People living at the same time as the author, and with the possibility of coming into contact with the text.

4. The Intermediary Audience People neither contemporaneous with the author, nor with the historian. Like Boehme interpreters in the 19th century.

5. The Contemporary Audience Us.

See Jorge Gracia for more on the nature of texts. These notes are distilled from his Philosophy and its History, SUNY Press, 1992.

Texts
1. Written, Spoken, or Mental Texts	There is the type/token distinction for any of these three. A text is a series of signs used to convey a meaning. Note the distinction between the conveyer of meaning, and the meaning.

2. Conventional and Natural Texts	Conventional texts are intended as meaningful, natural texts are not. However, see "biosemiotics".

3. Linguistic and Non-linguistic Texts	A text could be composed of words, or of something else -- pictures, for instance. However, these pictures would ultimately be linguistic if the text is conventional.

4. Universal and Individual Texts	Normally, we think of "Bruce" as individual, and "human being" as universal. When it comes to texts, they seem to be both individual and universal. They are historically imbedded -- individual. However, they can have a number of instantiations -- universal. Gracia decides that, except for actual instances of texts, they are universal.

5. The Historian's Text	There are a number of different texts we could be talking about here: The Contemporary Text: The text as historians have it today, in the original language. This text itself may be an edited version, from several sources or traditions. Of course, this text may well have never been intended by the author, and never actually existed. The Historical Text: This is the text the author actually wrote. The autograph. Problem: the author often made a variety of alterations at different times. The Intended Text: This is the text that the author intended to write, but did not. Sometimes, the author does not write what they intended, for a variety of mechanical or psychological reasons. This doesn't necessarily suppose that there is an idea that preceeds the writing, but simply that the writing conditions the idea, just as the stone conditions the sculpture. The Ideal Text: This is the text the author should have written. If the writer is arguing for a point, but does it badly, the philosopher can sometimes make the argument better. However, this text never has existed. This is important in reconstruction.

Authors
1. The Composite Author	This is the author of the contemporary text. It is a composite of the historical author, their scribes from that time to the present, and the current editors.

2. The Historical Author	The person that actually wrote the historical text. However, we don't have access to this person. Our knowledge is an approximation.

3. The Pseudo-Historical Author	This is the author we think wrote the historical text. Like Pseudo-Dionysius. This author may well put on a mask for the audience.

4. The Interpretive Author	This is the author of the ideal text.

Audiences
1. The Author as Audience	The author approaches the text as something to be understood and interpreted.

2. The Intended Audience	The group for whom the author composes the text. The intended audience may not be real at all, or may be a figment of the author's imagination.

3. The Contemporaneous Audience	People living at the same time as the author, and with the possibility of coming into contact with the text.

4. The Intermediary Audience	People neither contemporaneous with the author, nor with the historian. Like Boehme interpreters in the 19th century.

5. The Contemporary Audience	Us.