Necessity and philosophical understanding of scientific research according to Álvaro Vieira Pinto

Abstract

This article addresses some philosophical questions of epistemological and ontological nature present in the work Ciência e existência: problemas filosóficos da pesquisa científica (1967) written by the Brazilian philosopher Álvaro Borges Vieira Pinto (1909-1987). The underlying problem motivating this research is as follows: how does the methodological model of scientific research function as a philosophical aporia in the dialectical tension between science and existence? Therefore, aiming to deepen the understanding of such a question, I contrast dialectical-methodological systems between Lima Vaz and Vieira Pinto, considering the notion of dialectics. I also survey scientific research as a social point in the ontological processual movement of human history. Finally, I compare the necessity of philosophical understanding of scientific research among human agents who produce science, with the perspective of exercising critical consciousness in scientific endeavors.