Pluralismo epistemológico e sincretismo cultural

Uma Resposta Às Controvérsias Da Ecologia Teórica

Bibliographic Data

ID5784142
AuthorsMarcelo Awade (0000-0003-4490-8670, corresponding author)
Year2016
Publication date2016-08-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeTHESIS
PublisherUniversidade de São Paulo. Agência de Bibliotecas e Coleções Digitais (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.11606/t.41.2016.tde-19072016-154651
OpenAlexW2562794621
LanguageES
References cited20

Academic traditions in teaching ecology, as well as conventional encyclopedical textbooks often mask a history of great controversies behind the theoretical bases of this discipline.Many ecologists are trained without realizing the many conflicting debates that surround the theoretical body of the research programs they are inserted in.However, a simple deepening in the literature is enough to sense the confusion that theoretical formalization of ecology has become.With its roots in 19th century natural sciences and with empiricist emphasis, ecology went through a phase of theoretical formalization based on a deductive-nomological epistemology and in mathematical modeling of dynamic systems in the beginning of 20th century.This focus on the conjectural aspect of ecology consolidated in the 60's and many researchers claimed this would be the ideal method to formalize solid and general theories.Yet in the following decade a counter-movement began, strongly criticizing this school of thought aligned with physicists, culminating in debates that resulted in extreme radicalism regarding the definition of ecology's study subject and how the ecologist should proceed in his activity.At this point it becomes crucial to the scientist to face philosophy and the history of sciences to further understand the origins and reasons for these confusions.This knowledge enables the ecologist to critically position oneself within these controversies and thus (re)define his own research program coherently.One should be prepared however, for an intense psychological journey.For many this historical-philosophical quest brings a sense of frustration (a great intellectual discomfort at least) since the epistemology does not provide a simple and consensual answer to basic questions such as: what is a valid scientific knowledge?What are the bases of ecological theory?This way, the lack of training in epistemology associated with psychological reluctance to get involved in this area, have kept most ecologists away from the philosophical debate, allowing some mistakes and misconceptions about the ecological sciences to propagate for generations.Thus, endless disputes in the literature divided ecologists instead of uniting them.A general sense was created that there is a dichotomy between theory and empiricism (also seen as a dichotomy between conjectureinference), which seems to me as a serious problem given this division is illusory; science is the fusion of these two components.This dichotomous perception extends to other very important epistemological themes (e.g.induction or deduction, pattern description or explanation through causal processes and mechanisms, generality or precision), what hampers the advancement of ecological knowledge.This thesis is an attempt to contextualize historically the development of ecological thought and critically review the scientific epistemological debate, as well as some heuristic controversies related to modeling of ecological patterns and processes, to provide a favorable argument towards an epistemological pluralism in ecology.Finally, I synthesize the epistemological controversies, proposing how to conceive a research program in ecology opened to epistemological pluralism.For such I'll make use of the notion of an epistemological black box and of complex knowledge networks, both to show that epistemological pluralism can be seen as a cultural matter intrinsic to science, and also to suggest that a collaborative attitude instead of a competitive (conflicting) is much more intuitive and coherent with the 21st century ecologist.I believe that a predisposition to cultural syncretism in place of an "irrational" ethnocentrism has great potential to catalyze the advancement of the hampered and controversial science of ecology

Confusion · Empiricism · Epistemology · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Plant and animal studies · Psychology · Sustainability and Ecological Systems Analysis · Ecology

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