Subjectivity: Theory, Epistemology and Method

This book is a comprehensive introduction to the theoretical, methodological and epistemological aspects of the Theory of Subjectivity created by Fernando González Rey (1949-2019). After the publication of the book Epistemología Cualitativa y Subjetividad [Qualitative Epistemology and Subjectivity] by Fernando González Rey in 1997, which marked the beginning of efforts to incorporate the topic of subjectivity from a cultural-historical perspective, research grounded in this approach has multiplied. This book aims to highlight the development of the Theory of Subjectivity since its initial formulation and to further deepen and clarify the relationship between the Theory of Subjectivity, Qualitative Epistemology, and the Constructive-Interpretive Methodology. This volume also intends to delve deeper, in a didactic way, into the process of constructing information from the perspective of the Theory of Subjectivity. To this end, it discusses the results of studies based on this framework with the aim of delving into this complex process of theoretical construction in research, overcoming the idea of 'empirical research' so widespread in the empirical-instrumental paradigm. Rejecting the logic of data collection as the accumulation of fragments, the authors emphasize the research as a theoretical construction, in which dialogue constitutes a subjective and relational space. In this space, participants and researchers become agents whose singular productions make possible the emergence of information relevant to the purpose of the research. The theoretical model emerges as the living core of research, constantly constituted by new indicators, hypotheses, and constructions that integrate empirical expressions with conceptual elaboration. This is an English edition of a book originally published in Portuguese. The translation of the original manuscript into English was done with the help of artificial intelligence. The technical and stylistic revision was carried out by the specialists Daniel Magalhães Goulart, José Fernando Patiño Torres, and Bruno Reis Bernardo Cobucci.