Questionings about the ideal of objectivity and universality

feminist theology and hermeneutics in Rubem Alves

Abstract

The general theme of this article is the issue of the ideal of objectivity and universality in the production of academic knowledge. The objective is to analyze the context in which this ideal is constructed, both in the scientific and theological fields, as well as its implications for power relations among knowledge producers and between these producers and those considered laypersons. To this end, the hermeneutical method and comparative bibliography are employed, drawing on Rubem Alves’ perspective on the role of imagination in the formation of human consciousness and on feminist hermeneutics. It was thus found that it is not possible to guarantee objectivity in the construction of any knowledge, since all reflection, whether scientific or theological, arises from the contextual experiences of the researching subject. Moreover, discourses presented as universal, as well as the imposition of an objectivist way of thinking, reinforce exclusionary power relations. The conclusion is that imagination is a constitutive part of the human being and that the best way to approach objectivity in the construction of knowledge is by acknowledging the influence of subjectivity and the contexts from which such construction originates.