Llinás E. y González M. 2002. La Objetividad como Logro Práctico. Cinta moebio 13: 86-92

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Objectivity as a Practical Achievement

Ester Isabel Llinás (esther@cybertech.com.ar) y María Inés González Carella (gcarella@mdp.edu.ar). Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (Argentina)

Abstract

In the last decades the concept of objectivity has been criticized by the “new epistemologies”. These criticisms favour the consolidation of relativist and subjective positions, which condition the objectivity of scientific knowledge to such an extent that it seems to be a goal impossible to achieve. This risk has brought about a reaction from proposals which, admitting the importance and validity of the observations made by talented epistemologists such as H. Polanyi, Popper, Khun, Feyerabend, among others, try to rescue aspects of objectivity that make it possible to sustain its currency. In this work we intend to put emphasis on the conceptual elucidation of objectivity, as we considerer it to be the condition—although not exclusive—which will allow us to elaborate generalizations that wil account for the behaviour of the world. Along these lines we can find the contributions that, taking as a starting point the analysis of scientific practice, are offered by A. Chalmers and I. Hacking in the field of Philosophy of the Science, especially in reference to Physics. In relation to the problem of objectivity in the area of Social Science, the contributions made by : Bunge and P. Bourdieu seen to be relevant. Although they consider different perspectives, these authors emphasize the activity of the scientist as the most appropriate space to recover the sense of objectivity. According to A. Chalmers the objections made to the fundamental character attributed to the scientific perception in the tradicional view of science, expressed mainly by the neopositivism, do not have as an inevitable consequence the loss of the objective character of the knowledge. Following this trend he proposes a strategy to overcome the difficulties mentioned here.