FOR A PLURAL SCIENCE: EPISTEMOLOGY AND SCIENTIFIC FIELD IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Abstract

Physical Education, throughout its trajectory, has faced intense debates about its scientific status and its identity as a field of knowledge. Currently, the epistemological debate in the field has been resumed in studies that discuss its scientific production and its theoretical bases, reaffirming the relevance of continuous reflection in the field. This study aims to examine the epistemological foundations of Physical Education, discussing its constitution as a scientific field and its legitimacy as a plural science. It is characterized as a theoretical essay of a critical-reflexive nature, developed through bibliographic research and critical debate between classical references of epistemology and philosophy of science and the recent production of Physical Education and its object of study. The argument shows that the plurality of theoretical frameworks that crosses the field, far from weakening its scientificity, constitutes an expression of its identity, although it coexists with challenges of scientific training that require permanent qualification of the debate. The understanding of Physical Education as praxis adds an ethical and transformative dimension, and the recent perspectives, from physical literacy to artificial intelligence, reconfigure the field without dissolving its identity. It concludes that Physical Education asserts itself as a legitimate and autonomous scientific field, whose identity is built on the articulation between epistemological plurality, methodological rigor and social, pedagogical and health commitment.