Between the Historiographical Operation and the Ideological Sign: The Subject's Positioning in Epistemological Critique and Source Selection

Abstract

Objective: To unveil the ideological function of the positivist imperative in the scientific act of researching, proposing that scientific rigor lies in the conscious positioning of the researcher regarding the power relations that structure the production of knowledge.

Method: This is a qualitative bibliographic study whose corpus of analysis is composed of a theoretical review of authors from Cultural History and Epistemological Critique. Data were collected through the study of foundational works (De Certeau, Bakhtin, Foucault), from which the Historiographical Operation and the ideological sign are grounded. The method employed is critical-genealogical analysis, aiming to deconstruct the discourse of neutrality and revalidate subjectivity.

Results: The bibliographic research revealed that the scientific validity of the researcher resides in the confession of their social location and the capacity to objectify themselves. In its application to the History of Education, the Curriculum is read as an Identity Document and a stage for power strategies. This epistemology of positioning establishes a more contextualized rigor for the Human Sciences, engaged in social transformation.

Conclusion: It was concluded that the claim to neutrality of the knowing subject, an inheritance of nineteenth-century positivism, proves to be a very fragile ideological imperative in the field of the Human Sciences and, particularly, in the History of Education. Far from guaranteeing objectivity, this myth acts as a mechanism for concealing the power dynamics that permeate both scientific practice and the constitution of social reality.