Wybrane problemy statusu poznawczego tekstów pisanych – wprowadzenie

Abstract

The article concerns two subjects: 1. The description of the most important differences between a text which is a result of the author’s written record and the text which is created during an interview; and 2. The structure of a volume in which the ordered articles of researchers reflect the “game of influences” between the author, the recipient, the scientific discipline and the chosen research method. Contemporary social changes constitute a challenge for new forms of written records in both casual and scientific contexts. A need therefore arises to reinterpret the findings of the classics (e.g. F. Znaniecki) concerning the understanding and the practical application of the methods of a personal narrative or of biographical interviews. The need is reinforced by the emergence of new needs among recipients, especially on the Internet, which is considered the most democratic medium. Intentions and possibilities of the process of creating a written record and the resulting consequences for a casual receiver or an expert are not paralleled in the context of research using the method of interview. An author’s written record is an element of action, directing his attention towards future events and their possible interpretations. In Western culture, which is essentially a culture of writing, a written record constitutes the best variety among humanistic ways of experiencing. The number of interpretations of a written text is limited by the complexity of its structures, its subject matter and a form or genre adopted by the author. A casual, everyday act of writing or an act of writing a scientific text exist in the same sphere of experience in the sense that writing creates models of knowledge on practical applications of language. These models can be used to delineate the most probable „maps of interpretations”. The texts contained in the volume justify a conclusion that a different “map of a text” is created by its author, a different one by a casual recipient and still a different one by a professional researcher. The possibility of their superposition and the way in which they are overlaid in order to create one “version” currently constitute one of the challenges in the analysis and interpretation of written texts.