Qualitative aspects in scientific knowledge: the philosophical perspective of objectification

The focus of this contribution is Silvana Borutti’s theoretical perspective about knowledge as we find it expressed in Filosofia delle scienze umane. Le categorie dell’Antropologia e della Sociologia (1999), since it offers a key to overcome the dichotomy between explanatory paradigm, which would apply only to quantifiable objects in science, and hermeneutical paradigm, devoted to qualitative, irreducible properties. Overcoming the unilateral essences of both approaches might come from understanding knowledge as “objectification”. According to this perspective, knowledge is a formal constitution - or a configuration - of possible-objects that allows their understanding. It follows that “qualitative” aspect is not to be considered as a specific feature of hermeneutical objects, but it relates also the models shaping the scientific theories that investigate quantitative properties. Therefore, this conception of knowledge provides the basis to rethink the difference between empirical sciences and the humanities, considering both of them as fields of different forms of objectification. In conclusion, our attempt will be to draw some educational consequences of this perspective.