Interactions between values and scientific activity and its aplication to the context of the Campos Sulinos

Abstract

In the first half of the XXth century, both logical empiricists and popperian rationalists sustained that correct scientific judgements derived from the conformation to certain rules: inductive, deductive, hypothetical-deductive or formalizable according to the calculation of probabilities. However, mainly because of Thomas Kuhn’s works, there was an extensive development of approaches that analyze the scientific inference based on values, rather than on a priori established rules. The proposal of Kuhn considers the scientific practice and history as elements of relevance to the comprehension of science’s rationality. His approach considers cognitive values, such as fecundity, consistence, and scope of theories. Expanding this approach, recent studies – starting in the 90s and with great effervescence in recent years – defend the thesis that scientific knowledge, besides being a product of social activity, eatures an intrinsic social dimension. We could ask, in what measure noncognitive values, such as moral and social values, shape the scientific practice; and how these values could exercise a legitimate role, or even contribute to the production of knowledge. These questions involve the currently quite significant problem called “social dimension of the scientific knowledge”. In this work, I approach the mentioned question regarding the relation between values and the scientific activity, using the approach of the philosopher of science Hugh Lacey, and applying it to a specific background: the possibilities of the productive use of the south Brazilian native grasslands, know Campos Sulinos.