Abstract

TEDESCO, Juan Carlos. Educational research: From social science to social philosophy. REDIE [online]. 2003, vol.5, n.2, pp.1-16. ISSN 1607-4041.

The paper presents a broad characterization of the educational research context within the "knowledge society" framework. It also discusses two ideas. The first one holds that the social conditions created by the new capitalism set us against options which highlight the limits of technical rationality. The options we must choose from risk both ethics and value systems. From that perspective, the fundamental issue educational research should deal with is the possibility of surpassing social, biological or cultural determinism; in order to do so, it is necessary to assign greater importance to the subjective dimension of educational actions. The second idea, a synthesis of these reflexions, is about the transition that might be taking place, from a professional practice built on the social model to one which, without abandoning the methodological rigour of science, would have to be based on social philosophy.

Keywords : Educational research; subjectivity; social philosophy.

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