Martínez, M. 2010. Ontología Histórica y Nominalismo Dinámico: La propuesta de Ian Hacking para las Ciencias Humanas. Cinta moebio 39: 130-141

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Historical Ontology and Dynamic Nominalism: Ian Hacking’s proposal for the Human Sciences

Mg. María Laura Martínez (mlm@adinet.com.uy) Instituto de Filosofía, Universidad de la República (Montevideo, Uruguay).

Abstract

In recent years Ian Hacking has devoted himself to work mainly on human sciences. The purpose of this article is to present some of the notions coined by the Canadian philosopher –essentially the notions of historical ontology and dynamic nominalism– for that field. Based on this presentation, we conclude that the proposed historical ontology deals with the particular trajectories of the being and it is part of a wider contingentist perspective that is outlined in several of his works. At the same time, we see how Hacking proposes a nominalism different from the traditional and how he makes it work in relation to his professed defence of realism.

Keywords: Ian Hacking, historical ontology, dynamic nominalism, human sciences, human kinds.