Ciência livre de valores?: uma abordagem epistemológica da pesquisa em contabilidade ambiental no Brasil
Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The prestige and authority obtained from science have as one of their main foundations the idea that scientific representation of reality is free from influences of moral, ethical and social values of the researchers.However, this idea remains as one of the central questions of debate in philosophy of science and epistemology, and the reflection on the relationship between values and science practices is considered essential for the improvement of science.Environmental issues have contributed to the widening controversy about the way science is conducted and, in this sense, this paper aims to contribute to the improvement of scientific practices through a critical-epistemological reflection on the role of values in the process of building scientific knowledge on Environmental Accounting (EA) in Brazil.The work development was driven primarily by the philosophy of Hugh Lacey, whose model of analysis of the relationship between values and science activities helps identify and define the role that values play in scientific practices, thereby without impartiality in evaluating theories be impaired.For the empirical analysis 344 research papers published on EA in Brazil between the years 1998 and 2013, involving doctoral dissertations, master theses, and journal articles were accessed.The examination of the present discourses in the work focused research strategies that guided such investigations.The analysis of the theoretical assumptions that guided the research and the criteria for selection of empirical data used to test the theories adopted, shows that research strategies of decontextualized approach are hegemonic in conducting research in EA in Brazil.Authors of the analyzed papers are silent regarding to ontological and epistemological assumptions that guided their research, and about the role that values exert on this activity.Surveys are conducted under the belief in an objective reality which existence is independent of consciousness, values and human interests, and reflect the ability to capture and represent reality in an objective, neutral and impartial manner.Aimed primarily to promote the possibility of controlling the objects investigated, the emphasis of the research is to explain and predict the behavior of phenomena through the identification of behavioral patterns, regularities and causal relationships.Arising own instrumental goals of accounting, the almost exclusive adoption of this type of research strategy reflects a methodological subordination of the possibility of applying the knowledge generated for control purposes, which compromises the neutrality of scientific practices in this area choices.These results lead to the conclusion that research practices in EA in Brazil are not committed to the ideal of scientific neutrality, due the relationship between mutually reinforced product applications of science and methodological choices.Alongside the progress already achieved in research on EA in Brazil through decontextualized strategies, an effective commitment to the ideal of neutrality in scientific practices requires the abdication of this methodological monism in favor of the coexistence of a plurality of research strategies in this area.
Author: Aladio Zanchet
Language: Portuguese
Subfield: Accounting
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1497501710