What Documents Cannot Do

Abstract

Contrary to the key claim of the documental theory that social reality can be explained in terms of the formula “(Social) Object = Inscribed Act”, it is argued that the invocation of objects constitutes an unnecessary detour and that the instances of social reality that the theory takes as paradigmatic are better thought of in terms of other categories. The formula itself leaves unexplained how an inscribed act can produce a social fact of any sort, both because the act of inscription is itself social and because it leaves unclear how to account for the validity or invalidity of such documents. Documental theory fails completely to account for the fact that very many societies do not have the institution of writing that is required for the theory. In appealing to Derrida’s notion of “archiwriting”, Ferraris’ version of documentality abandons the theory’s main strength: that of allowing public verifiability of the documents that provide corroboration for some complex social institutions.