El aforismo, género y concepto

The peak of aphorisms leads us to set out questions regarding this form of expression which is a sort of mixture: half philosophy and half literature. Firstly, this paper examines the aphorism in terms of its complex definition: the maxim, the dictum, the apothegm, the enigma and the fragment. Secondly, this article brings out the differences between the aphorism and other forms, such as ‘greguería’, joke and riddle. Thirdly, this paper also studies the aphorism as a genre in its history. It questions and debates the relationship between the short classic literary forms and the modern aphorism. Finally, the diachronic analysis of the aphorism and the terminological analysis lead to a conception of this form that is linked to the human facticity, based on the intersection between world and language.