Doubts on a method beyond suspicion

Abstract

This essay casts some doubts on the consistency of the argumentative plot on which Carlo Ginzburg founded his evidentiary paradigm. A first moment of this reflective questioning will address the way Ginzburg’s thesis was assessed by the critical literature. A second step will then focus on the interrelations between Ginzburg’s epistemological considerations and the Greek notion of indictment (tekmérion), as originated in Thucydides’ work. For Thucydides, as also for Ginzburg, indictment is the methodical procedure that guarantees the factual accuracy in historiography. The essay suggests that Ginzburg disregarded his dialogue with Thucydides, not simply by being entirely silent about it, but rather by eliding it.