The Coloniality of Scientific Knowledge

Abstract

The university is a training space that works on three main fronts: teaching, research and extension. Despite the production of knowledge being generated in different ways among these three dimensions, scientific development has historically been based on specific perspectives and definitions of what science is. This essay aims to present the fundamentals of two characteristic elements of scientific knowledge, method and rationality, and their form of cultural imposition, especially in scientific production. To accomplish this, the contributions of René Descartes and Immanuel Kant on the importance of the method and the use of reason for the development of science were used. Then, discussions by Boaventura de Souza Santos and Jean-Marc Ela on this model of science and the exclusion of other forms of knowledge were considered. The proposals by Antonio Joaquim Severino and Manuel Tavares regarding decoloniality in Latin American universities were also included. We conclude that the university plays a collaborative role with coloniality, as it imposes and disseminates only knowledge that is considered legitimate by Western standards. It is necessary, therefore, to reflect on their actions, conceptions and proposals to carry out critical awareness and include the epistemological diversity that exists in society.