Psychology, Knowledge, and Plural Epistemologies: a Brief History of the Positions of the Federal Council of Psychology

Abstract:

This study aims to describe the movements of the Federal Council of Psychology regarding what are considered alternative practices, emerging practices, and traditional knowledge stemming from new epistemologies that characterize some frontiers of psychology. Due to its broad scope, it will focus on three components of the system, namely, the events the Federal Council of Psychology organized on the topic, serving as a platform for dialogue and communication with society as a whole, but particularly with the psychology profession; the Deliberative Notebooks of the National Congresses of Psychology, larger deliberative spaces within the psychology council system; and finally, its Official Acts (resolutions, normative instructions, and ordinances), normative components of the system. Additionally, we will use technical notes produced and data from the Brazilian Psychology Census, launched in 2022. By intersecting these three components – deliberative, communicative, and normative –, we will attempt to show the pendulum movements of the council system regarding the relation between psychology and frontier practices. These movements oscillate between liberal and normative positions that often coexist. Notable in these movements are the emergence of dialogues on Psychology and Human Rights and the development of policies originating from the health field (the National Policy for Integrative and Complementary Practices, the National Humanization Policy, and the National Policy for Popular Education in Health), all stemming from the Brazilian Unified Health System. By a dialogical ethic in encounter with the different and our own otherhood, the council system has constructed a mechanism to advance dialogues between psychology and its frontiers, especially with traditional practices and knowledge, which constitute the Aluízio Lopes de Brito Psychological Practices Evaluation System.

Keywords:
Psychology; Epistemology; Practices