The agents of knowledge

exploring the role of social epistemic agents in the intersectional scientific field

Abstract

This essay addresses the concept of the social epistemic agent as a way to characterize organizational entities dedicated to knowledge production (in a more or less formal manner) as mereological structures endowed with intention and intension, and then uses it as the central element of a framework that organically integrates two other concepts: the scientific field, drawn from Bourdieu, which frames scientific activity within a broader symbolic context, linking it to economic, political, and social purposes, and intersectionality, which reveals hegemonic mechanisms as the result of the interaction of multiple systems of interests and hierarchies. It is argued that these three concepts are systematically intertwined, demonstrating that social epistemic agents operate within a scientifically intersectional field that conditions their activity.