THE UNDERSTANDING OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC PRACTICE: A PERSPECTIVE ON THE DEBATE

Abstract

The debate on science and society is not new. In spite of this, two obstacles emerge: the definition of "science" and the meaning attributed to "social". Considering some examples that come from the agrarian sciences in Brazil, it is argued that the practice of science is much more complex and dynamic than the debate usually attributes to the development of underdeveloped science. However, this aspect is only perceived if there is a change in the philosophical conception of positivist science, in the way the social sciences are practiced, and in the attempt to discover only causes and effects. The objective is to direct the debate toward the introduction of philosophical principles that come from the philosophy of technology and from the hermeneutic-dialectic tradition in order to understand the practice of the agrarian sciences in the underdeveloped context.