Editing Performative utterance (section)

===Historical methodology===
The historian [[Quentin Skinner]] developed classical and postmodern theories on performative texts into a concrete research method. Using Austin's vocabulary, he seeks to recover what historical authors were doing in writing their texts, which corresponds with the performance of illocutionary acts.<ref name="Skinner 2003">{{cite book|last=Skinner |first=Quentin |title=Visions of Politics |volume=1 regarding method |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2003}}</ref>{{rp|vii}} According to Skinner, philosophical ideas are intertwined with claims of power. Every text is an act of communication that positions itself in relation to the status quo it seeks to change.<ref name="Skinner 2003"/>{{rp|115}}

Skinner agrees with Derrida that contexts in their entirety are irretrievable but nevertheless states that there is a relevant context outside the text that can be described in a plausible way.<ref name="Skinner 2003"/>{{rp|121}} Extensive research is required to relate historical texts to their contemporary discourses. According to Skinner 'there is a sense in which we need to understand why a certain proposition has been put forward if we wish to understand the proposition itself'.<ref name="Skinner 2003"/>{{rp|115}} He values agency over structure and stresses the importance of authorial intentions.<ref name="Skinner 2003"/>{{rp|7}} Skinner therefore proposes to study historical sources in order to retrieve the convictions the author held, reflect on their coherence and investigate possible motives for the illocutionary act.<ref name="Skinner 2003"/>{{rp|119}} This practical method seeks to deal with the blurred distinction between text and context and offer a meaningful way of interpreting historical reality.