History and philosophy of science in the context of science education and the debate between universalism and relativism

Abstract

This article tackles the issue concerning the insertion of history and philosophy of science in the context of science education. In order to show that, nowadays, there is a consensus that the history and philosophy of science can improve the science teaching, the author briefly presents some arguments both in favor and against such insertion, as it has been approached in the specialized literature of this field. Nevertheless, the discussion on which history and which nature of the scientific knowledge should be taught is still an issue to be dealt with. The main argument of this article is that this difficulty exists because, along with the inclusion of the history and philosophy of science in the context of science education, there is an underlying problem which concerns two antagonistic positions that may explain what the nature of science is: one having more universalist tendencies and the other characterized by more relativistic tendencies. In this sense, the terms of the debate are reconstructed philosophically. Therefore, it is expected to clarify that such positions have practical axiological implications on the science education.