American Journal of Educational Research, 2017, Vol. 5, No. 7, 788-793
Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/5/7/15
©Science and Education Publishing
DOI:10.12691/education-5-7-15
The Subjects’ Discursive Practices in Environmental
Sciences at the Scientific Context of the University
of Southwestern Bahia, Brazil
Silva Thiago Souza
1
, Cestari Luiz Artur dos Santos
2,*
1
Graduate Program on Environmental Science of UESB, Itapetinga, Brazil, CAPES/BRAZIL
2
Department of Philosophy and Human Sciences, University of Southwestern Bahia (UESB), Vitória da Conquista-BA, Brazil
*Corresponding author: thiago_uesb@yahoo.com.br; lacestari@hotmail.com
Abstract The advent of modernity and its conception of knowledge demanded a strong specialization, an intention
of universalization and the neutrality of subject and object in a self-centered process of methodological constructions.
This process was on the base of the modern sciences since its emergence during the seventeen century until the
nineteen century. This model of science has received critical positions since the second middle of nineteen century
but it was questioned as a paradigm in crisis at the second middle of twentieth century when the debate about the
crisis of the modernity has opened theory conditions to talk about the emergence of interdisciplinary subjects and
other paradigms to understand it. One example of it was the emergence of environmental phenomena. After the
impact of the Second World War, the environmental sciences as an interdisciplinary approach arise and will propose
an effective communication among knowledge in order to offer a more complex perspective since its emergence in
the global context. Nevertheless, the legitimization of the new perspective has not become effective because the
power relations and the scientific actions on institutions - mainly in universities - have received interference of their
disciplinary powers in which is predominant a modern scientifically perspective. This paper aims at discuss the
emergence of environmental phenomena and its institutionalization process at the State University of Southwestern
Bahia, understanding the scientific actions of researchers and professors as discursive practices in accord with
Michel Foucault theory framework.
Keywords: subjects, discursive practices, environmental sciences
Cite This Article: Silva Thiago Souza, and Cestari Luiz Artur dos Santos, “The Subjects’ Discursive
Practices in Environmental Sciences at the Scientific Context of the University of Southwestern Bahia, Brazil.”
American Journal of Educational Research, vol. 5, no. 7 (2017): 788-793. doi: 10.12691/education-5-7-15.
1. Introduction
During the modernity since its emergence in the
seventeen century until the nineteen century, the
predominant scientific discourse arise as a method based
on a scientific rationality whose more important procedures
were the rigor of measurements and reduction of complexity.
The areas of knowledge began to work in isolated like
islands, making methodologies a restricted place where
they supported a single idea of scientific truth. Since then,
the scientific areas transformed themselves in disciplines
(Gallo [10], Japiassu [12]).
However, the influence of the globalization progress at
the second middle of twentieth century and the emergence
of the more integrated problems and subjects coming from
the social, economic and environmental processes have
became urgent the deconstruction of the segregation of
these areas (Lyotard [18]). The interdisciplinary approach
emerges as a viable proposal to solve the environmental
problems such as the problems like soil, water resources,
atmospheric, oil crisis, solid waste management, use of
pesticides, population growth and so forth.
The interdisciplinary approach debate arose in the
1960's in academic centers over the world, suggesting an
effective communication between the different kinds of
knowledge and a comprehensive interaction among fields.
It annihilated the egocentric convictions of researchers
who had fear of the difference and no interest to break
their research method conception as the only one that was
able to answer their scientific questions (Morin [20,21,22,23]).
The interdisciplinary approach gave to the sciences a
more expanded perspective that had a more potentiality
to understand the complexity of nature. How about
environmental problems, the interdisciplinarity demanded
a more all-embracing range of social and natural
knowledge (Leff [13,14,15,16,17]), resulting of it a more
innovative organization because two or more areas of
knowledge should be connected to build a new knowledge.
In Brazilian universities, there is a significant immaturity
refers to the interdisciplinary dialogue about environmental
problems in learning, research process and extension services.
The environmentalization of institutional practices faces an
incipient subjects' awareness to break the disciplinary
approach due to the conveniences and comforts of the
establishment as well as the absence of the public scientific
incentives to reach interdisciplinary results.