From fragment to hypertext: Adding layers of reading

Abstract

In this paper we will suggest that a hypertextual representation of the text allows us to show different temporal layers of reading and lets us add new ones. We use the notion “layers of reading” as a metaphor to explain how, historically, each reading of a text creates a new layer, an independent “stratum of meaning” -to use a geological term-, that is superimposed to a previous reading. We think the digital edition and the digital reading could create a philosophical methodology, based on the awareness of the historical construction of each layer of reading.

Keywords

• Philosophy
• Pico della Mirandola
• Hypertext
• Reading