Truth telling, making fiction: for a review of the aphorism

Abstract

A clarification of the aleteic status of the aphorism entails a revision of some major keys for its critical elucidation: its relation to the false or the probable, its tendency to refutation or iconoclasty, as well as the conflicting way in which its propositions are related to the common or constitute truths of life. The complex nature of its generic condition also requires a review of the enunciative implications of its fiction status and the way in which its readers actualize a certain figurative search for truth through an epiphanic revelation of meaning. Finally, a genealogical approach to the aphorism, its truth games and veridiction speeches points to some contributions of the last Foucault, the truth-telling of the parresiasta and the hypomnematas, as well as a consideration of the aphorism as a living ritual of the truth.