Historia y éticas: apuntes para una hermenéutica de la alteridad

This essay is based on the assumption that all interpretative science results from a social operation and thus responds to determinations of place and origin. Consequently, it is impossible to separate the results of this intellectual operation from the social dimension that makes it possible. On the basis of this brief reflection, I wish to cali attention to the frequently forgotten links that exist between knowledge and power through a dialogue among representatives of the three traditions which, openly or otherwise, comment upon and take ethical positions regarding the practice of interpretation: contemporary hermeneutics, the philosophy of liberation in Latin America, and postcolonial theory. The ultimate objective of this essay corresponds to the urgent need to continue efforts to think in terms of a situational, critical, and consciously participatory type of history.