Classificatory Theory in Data-Intensive Science: The Case of Open Biomedical Ontologies

publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticleThis is the author's version of a paper that was subsequently published in International Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Please cite the published version by following the DOI link.Knowledge-making practices in biology are being strongly affected by the availability of data on an unprecedented scale, the insistence on systemic approaches and growing reliance on bioinformatics and digital infrastructures. What role does theory play within data-intensive science, and what does that tell us about scientific theories in general? To answer these questions, I focus on Open Biomedical Ontologies, digital classification tools that have become crucial to sharing results across research contexts in the biological and biomedical sciences, and argue that they constitute an example of classificatory theory. This form of theorizing emerges from classification practices in conjunction with experimental know-how and expresses the knowledge underpinning the analysis and interpretation of data disseminated online.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)The British AcademyLeverhulme Trus

Políticas trabalhista, fundiária e de crédito agrícola no Brasil

Este artigo discute as causas do padrão concentrador do desenvolvimento agrícola brasileiro recente, expresso no predomínio da produção em grande escala, elevado índice de mecanização e baixa absorção de mão de obra não qualificada. Cita, inicialmente, a existência de duas posições antagônicas que procuram explicar esse fato: uma, que culpa a herança latifundiária de nossa agricultura, e a outra, que vê nisso um determinismo tecnológico, não havendo, assim, possibilidade de atuar sobre esse problema sem incorrer numa perda em termos de eficiência econômica. Este trabalho, contudo, atribui às políticas trabalhista agrícola, fundiária e de crédito agrícola, instituídas na década de 1960, a responsabilidade maior por esse problema. Conforme a análise apresentada, essas políticas inviabilizaram o mercado de trabalho agrícola temporário e a agricultura familiar, ao mesmo tempo em que fomentaram a mecanização agrícola e o predomínio da produção em grande escala. O trabalho termina propondo uma desregulamentação dos mercados de trabalho e de terra na agricultura brasileira, assim como uma redução drástica do subsídio ao crédito rural.<br>This paper discusses the question of the concentrated pattern of agricultural development in Brazil, as expressed in the predominance of large-scale production, high level of mechanization and low absorption of non-qualified labor. It is proposed, initially, the existence of two conflicting explanations for this fact: the first, that blames our historical heritage, characterized by the predominance of the latifundio, and the second, that sees in this fact a technological determinism, with the implication that lesser concentration in agriculture would involve a loss of economic efficiency. This paper, however, attributes to the labor, land and credit policies directed to agriculture, instituted in the decade of 1960, the major responsibility for this problem. As the analysis shows, these policies turned unviable the agricultural temporary labor market and family farm, at the same time that they stimulated agricultural mechanization and large-scale production. The paper ends up proposing a deregulation both of agricultural labor and land markets, as well as a drastic reduction in the subsidized agricultural credit