Originalidade e inovação na filosofia das ciências contemporânea: ainda faz sentido tratá-las como termos distintos?

Abstract

The aim of this work is to analyse the implications brought forward by the innovationist culture about the epistemic value of the originality. It starts with the hypothesis that this value, which is determinant for the creation of new modes of perception of Nature, and for the broadening of the knowledge of the contemporary capitalist societies, has acquired a new sense in the Epistemology of Science. As the importance given to the need to obtain from science the innovative results that serve pragmatic applications, with public and private agencies directly interfering in the elaboration of the scientific agenda, it is verified that Originality has taken a different sense from the one that enables science to generate knowledge that is not restricted to the fulfilment of the practical needs of human life. Originality will be analysed in a cultural environment where innovation is considered fundamental for the economical and social development, highlighting the epistemic implications of this evident conceptual, axiological, and practical entanglement, from the evidence that science is part of an institutional structure that, pulling the maximization of the cognitive and economic investments, limits the scope of programs and research. The investigation will make an analysis about originality and innovation, both situated inside an institutional context, and also in a context of the National Innovation Systems, based on the economical theories of Schumpeter and the neo-schumpetereian economists. This will be done through works of History, Sociology and the Philosophy of Science, through the publications of the results of Research, Development and Innovation, through the analysis of documents that have served as reference for most of the countries that have structured some kind of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy. These documents show rationales, coordinated strategies, and directives linked to the investments in Science, Technology and Innovation for the governmental agencies of the United States of America, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the European Union.