Felipe Rodrigues Oliveira e Silva

This article proposes an onto-epistemic notion of system as a relational process of unifying a multiplicity of actuals and abstractions into an actual unity, thereby encompassing concreteness and abstraction onto the same plane. This notion rejects the opposition between constructivism and realism within systems studies, the excessive focus on permanence and identity and the separation between purely conceptual (epistemic) and positive (ontic) systems. Drawing on Alfred Whitehead's concept of event and Edgar Morin's systems discussion as theoretical foundations, and taking Roland Faber's formulation of the problem posed by the idea of system as a point of departure, the article situates experience as the plane in which actuals and abstractions are unified. By emphasizing the ongoing, situated and relational character of systems, this definition can be operationalized in problem-oriented scientific research, allowing for the construction of objects of study while acknowledging the commitments, agency and responsibilities involved in enacting a system.

Apesar de o Antropoceno ter sido rejeitado como nova época geológica, a principal eficácia dessa ideia, argumentamos, deriva de sua capacidade de agregar uma série de questões contemporâneas em um mesmo plano de discussão. Principalmente, o Antropoceno tem colocado em xeque a dicotomia moderna natureza/cultura e tem nos colocado a confrontar a destruição progressiva de inúmeros mundos pelas práticas modernas de habitar e construir seu próprio mundo, o qual agora também se encontra ameaçado pelas consequências de suas próprias práticas. Portanto, para além de uma marca na história geológica, o Antropoceno é uma questão política de coabitação. Há, no entanto, um problema epistemológico que daí deriva, o qual diz respeito a como produzir conhecimentos científicos que não desconsiderem os mundos não-modernos e ao papel do conhecimento científico. Assim, diante das políticas ontológicas contemporâneas, o presente ensaio busca nas discussões de Alfred North Whitehead e de Isabelle Stengers novas orientações para a prática das ciências ambientais. Argumentamos que é necessário reavaliarmos as questões que movem nossas pesquisas e o seu lugar de primazia no que tange à produção de conhecimento. Especificamente no caso das ciências ambientais, argumentamos pela necessidade de rever como produzimos nossas abstrações, principalmente o que concebemos por ambiente. // Although the Anthropocene has been rejected as a new geological epoch, the main effectiveness of this idea, we argue, derives from its ability to bring together a series of contemporary issues in a same plane of discussion. In particular, the Anthropocene has questioned the modern nature/culture dichotomy and has led us to confront the progressive destruction of countless worlds by modern practices of inhabiting and building their own world, which is now also threatened by the consequences of its own practices. Therefore, beyond a mark in geological history, the Anthropocene is a political question of cohabitation. Nevertheless, an epistemological question derives from it, one which concerns how to produce scientific knowledge that does not disregard non-modern worlds and the role of scientific knowledge. Thus, in face of contemporary ontological politics, the present essay seeks for new orientations to the practice of environmental sciences based on Alfred North Whitehead’s and Isabelle Stengers’ discussions. We argue that it is necessary to review the questions that move our researches and the primacy of sciences regarding knowledge production. Specifically in the case of environmental sciences we argue for the necessity of review how we produce our abstractions, especially what has been conceived as environment.