Abstract
What is the trait d'union linking the philosophy of history, psychoanalysis and hermeneutics? Awareness of the dialectics between form and content. In particular, awareness of the power of form; as a principle of organization of (historical) chaos but, at the same time, as a principle of closure and mastery over the vibrant wealth of the (chaotic) past. Awareness, then of that which the past offers as a stimulus--at times, as a scandal--for form: the past coaxes form, or theory, into an adaptation, which is frequently far from easy. The philosophy of history, psychoanalysis and hermeneutics indicate the essential value of this stimulus, inasmuch as it is a content that forces form. Here the content is not what is set out in neat array by theory but, paradoxically, what the latter does not succeed in containing. However, the demarcation between form and content, between horizon (Gadamer) and stimulus, cannot be traced in absolute terms. This is not required, however, as their dialectic focuses on perception of the stabbing prick of the stimulus, and this does not require independent definitions of form and content: here they are considered interdependent, and interest centres on their relation.