1 Beyond Paper

The authors outline the way in which documents as social objects have evolved from their earliest forms to the electronic documents of the present day. They note that while certain features have remained consistent, processes regarding document authentication are seriously complicated by the easy reproducibility of digital entities. The authors argue that electronic documents also raise significant questions concerning the theory of ‘documentality ’ advanced by Maurizio Ferraris, especially given the fact that interactive documents seem blur the distinctions between the static documents (or ‘inscriptions’) which form Ferraris’s starting point, and dynamic software processes. The authors argue further that the Ferraris view in the case of legal documents is flawed because of the fact courts may treat contractual obligations as enduring even in spite of a complete absence of inscriptions. Finally, the authors note that traces in brains, another important family of inscriptions on the Ferraris view, differ significantly from genuinely documentary inscriptions by their lack of public inspectability. Documents and social realit