Humanist and Materialist Perspectives on Communication: The Work of Álvaro Vieira Pinto

Abstract

Abstract:The present paper recovers the notion of technology present in the works of the Brazilian philosopher Álvaro Vieira Pinto written during the 1970s. Pinto made humanist and materialist contributions to the study of communication(s). The paper connects the author's contributions to communication theory with different theoretical and epistemological approaches, discussing the Zeitgeist of things, the post-human and the immaterial. Vieira Pinto anticipated theoretical questions that are relevant in current debates in communication theory.

2001: Uma odisseia pelo conceito de tecnologia em Álvaro Vieira Pinto

“…(VIEIRA PINTO, 2005a, p. 155) O fizemos assim, nós, os seres humanos, capazes de construir seres cibernéticos a partir das nossas contradições com a natureza durante a nossa evolução da razão, agora não mais condicionada ao tempo biológico, mas ao tempo histórico social. Rafael Grohmann (2016), em texto sobre a obra de Vieira Pinto, também chama a atenção da centralidade da cultura para o entendimento desses assuntos. Além de destacar que as lutas sociais ocorrem, e devem ocorrer, no campo da cultura, reforça o entendimento dessa como uma expressão humana, como modo de vida, assim, é nesse espaço que devemos desenvolver não só a consciência de si, mas a consciência de forma crítica.…”

“…Vieira Pinto reforça, ao longo dos dois volumes do livro, o caráter de mediação da tecnologia, sempre a serviço das classes dominantes. Podemos encontrar formulações parecidas no próprio Marx (2011a), reforçado por Grohmann (2016), mas também em Theotônio dos Santos, para quem "cada avanço tecnológico é um instrumento a mais de dominação da força de trabalho" (SANTOS, 1983, p. 14).…”

Pedagogical Trends in Teaching Humanities in the Formation of Future Elementary School Teachers

“…The current situation goes beyond understanding human sciences. By pushing certain humanistic aspects aside, the profound comprehension of humanity becomes much more complex due to moral subjectivities (Grohmann, 2016).…”

Introduction to Diseña 22: Design, Oppression, and Liberation (2nd issue)

“…Building upon anti-colonial views on oppression, this field connects design research with the history of changing social structures through liberation struggles.Design is naïvely described as a deterministic relationship between form and function. In critical definitions (Lefebvre, 1991;van Amstel, 2015), design is a dialectical relationship that preserves and transforms a third element: structure.By recognizing the overcoming movement or aufheben (Beckett, 2017), design runs away from the confinement of the object, reaching up to the subjective-objective constitution of human beings in the world (Grohmann, 2016; Vieira Pinto, 1960/2020. In this constitution, design reproduces social structures as much as it changes them.As a response to our call for papers on Design, Oppression, and Liberation, we received 32 submissions, seven of them already published in the last issue of Diseña (21).…”

“…By recognizing the overcoming movement or aufheben (Beckett, 2017), design runs away from the confinement of the object, reaching up to the subjective-objective constitution of human beings in the world (Grohmann, 2016; Vieira Pinto, 1960/2020. In this constitution, design reproduces social structures as much as it changes them.…”