The argument

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The concept

Each website deals, in its different versions, with specific aspects of the central topic in questio, such as religion or politics. This is done through seom distinct thematic lines that develop an argument to which the information in the bibliographical section of the website relates.

We may think of these thematic lines as benchmarks: they orient the reader along a narrative that structures the data presented in the bibliographical section, offering a platform for the development of coherent lines of inquiry. These interact with each other according to the notion of digital discourse.

Specifically, there are three types of benchmarks:

1. the core,
2. the thematic expansions, and
3. more extensive treatments .

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The core narrative

Each version of a website concentrates on a given topic, which is developed at length in what serves as a core narrative. The first edition of each of the websites in the cluster uses a printed book as a core narrative. Subsequent editions will have a separate core narrative that will be natively digital.

At this point, the core consists of a printed book: the original intent behind the websites was in fact that they would serve as companions to these books (as indicated in the history of the project. At this point, the core narrative given in the printed book is summarized in detail in the pertinent 4banks website.

As the project develops, it is intended that each edition should have a natively digital core narrative. This will provide a more fully integrated system, whereby the argument as a whole will be presented through a series of properly interlaced levels.

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Notes

In the current version, with the core narrative available as a printed book, the notes refer to sections within the book, and are labeled individually for ease of reference. – For an example, see an entry in the Critique website.

In future versions, the notes will still serve the fucntion that notes normally have in printed papers, providing points of detail supplementing the digital core narrative without interrupting the flow of the argument.

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Themes

A theme deals, in a restricted way, with a topic related to the core narrative – see for example the entry on broken traditions or the one on inference, both in the Critique website: they develop themes that are central to the core narrative, and provide also different points of view vis-à-vis what has been said in the core argument. Conceptually, a theme is like an excursus in a printed book: it develops a point more thoroughly than the core narrative would allow, but within the limits of a digital page.

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Monographs

Monographs develop the topic in function of the wider set of biliographical entries on the one hand and, on the other, in function of a given aspect of the core narrative. They give an expanded treatment in a way that can be compared to full-fledged articles, but always tightly related to the core narrative. For example, the monograph on Kant in the Critique website aims at justifying the use of the notion of Archaeological Reason as used in the main title.

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History of discipline

One particular thematic expansion deals with the development of critical thought in each particular discipline covered in their respective websites. This has a special theoretical significance, and is of particular relevance for the 4banks cluster, devoted as it is to the scholarly tradition i these various fields. I address this briefly above on a separate page.