A construção e disseminação do conhecimento no Brasil: a produção do conhecimento em ciência política

Abstract

This work seeks to understand what can and cannot be called scientific knowledge. The research problem arises precisely from the need to visualize a general overview of the current state of knowledge production in Brazil, with a focus on the field of Political Science. The objectives include constructing a concept of what scientific knowledge is, understanding the state of knowledge production in Brazil, identifying the role of the advisor in the formation of new researchers and how this affects the future of research in the country, and finally, positioning Political Science as an independent field of knowledge production. With a qualitative approach, the methodological process was aimed at combining three elements: Heuristics, Critique, and Hermeneutics. Heuristics is the process of searching for the information to be used in the research; Critique is the moment of selecting this material, assessing what will or will not contribute to the construction of knowledge; and Hermeneutics is the interpretation of the collected data, considering various factors that influence the building of scientific knowledge. Scientific knowledge is understood as knowledge that is constructed in a way that strictly follows the necessary methodological procedures. It is essential to establish an object based on the researcher’s proximity to the topic, to seek techniques and methods that allow reaching a satisfactory result, a result that must be published, whether through a scientific article, book chapter, or book. Regarding the numbers related to scientific research in Brazil, we can observe a constant increase in the number of researchers and Research Groups in the country, especially in the field of human sciences, which ranked first with the highest number of researchers in the latest census recorded (2016). Brazil ranks 14th globally and 1st in Latin America in terms of the number of scientific publications, according to the SCImago website, showing that the country does indeed produce and publish a lot of scientific knowledge. However, the real impact these publications have may not be equivalent to their quantity, challenging the methodological rigor being employed in the production of this knowledge. The researcher must learn how to research, and this primarily depends on their advisor and the way the advisor conducts this process. Therefore, it is necessary to have a dialogue between the advisor and the student, aiming for the student to exercise their critical thinking and autonomy, applying the techniques and methods learned during the process of Scientific Initiation. After all, these are responsible for the future of scientific knowledge in the country. In recent years, Brazilian Political Science, within graduate programs in the field, has shown significant growth, although it is still not sufficiently present in all regions of the country. The number of publications has also increased, but following the example of the country, the field of Political Science also faces a crisis concerning the intellectual impact of its scientific production.