RESUMO Este ensaio apresenta alguns dos resultados de uma pesquisa sobre os oficiais do Exército Brasileiro, patrocinada pela Capes, no âmbito do Edital Pró-Defesa. Trata-se de um survey nacional, cujo questionário foi enviado a 20.435 oficiais da ativa e possibilitou a construção de um banco de dados contendo as respostas de 2.423 entrevistados. Serão apresentadas as percepções desses oficiais acerca da instituição em que atuam e da democracia brasileira.

ABSTRACT This essay presents some of the results of a survey of Brazilian Army officers, sponsored by Capes, within the scope of the Edital Pró-Defesa. It’s a national survey, whose questionnaire was sent to 20,435 active officers and allowed the construction of a database containing the answers of 2,423 respondents. The perceptions of these officials about their institution and about Brazilian democracy will be presented.

RESUMO A principal sugestão deste ensaio é a de que a questão da abertura, da incompletude do Brasil foi construída no âmbito dos debates sobre a crise estrutural do império brasileiro, como crítica assistemática, porém pertinaz, à ordem burguesa que se impunha. Naquele contexto, foram portadores dessa crítica André Rebouças, Cruz e Sousa e Lima Barreto, cuja inscrição marginal em seus respectivos contextos de atuação lhes conferiu ângulos privilegiados para a figuração de outros Brasis possíveis. Contudo, o desfecho trágico de suas vidas - o suicídio, a tuberculose famélica e o alcoolismo - ocultou a radicalidade presente em sua obra.

ABSTRACT This paper’s key proposition is that the issue of openness, of incompleteness of Brazil was built within the debates about the Brazilian Empire’s structural crisis as an asystematic though persistent criticism to the imposed bourgeois order. In that context, André Rebouças, Cruz e Sousa, and Lima Barreto were the bearers of such criticism, but their marginal inscription in their respective contexts conferred them privileged angles to figure out other possible Brazils. However, the tragic outcome of their lives - suicide, starving tuberculosis, and alcoholism - hid their works’ radicality.

RESUMEN La principal sugerencia de este ensayo es que la cuestión de la abertura, de la incompletud de Brasil ha sido construida en el ámbito de los debates sobre la crisis estructural del Imperio brasileño, como crítica asistemática pero pertinaz al orden burgués que se imponía. En aquel contexto, los portadores de esta crítica fueron André Rebouças, Cruz e Sousa y Lima Barreto. La inscripción marginal de los tres en sus respectivos contextos de actuación les ha conferido ángulos privilegiados para la figuración de otros Brasiles posibles. Sin embargo, el desenlace trágico de sus vidas - el suicidio, la tuberculosis famélica y el alcoholismo- ha ocultado la radicalidad presente en sus obras.

Este artigo elege alguns temas para a pesquisa sobre o exercício da atividade intelectual no país, a partir do recorte de três momentos históricos distintos, a que corresponderam três formas de organização dos intelectuais: as Academias e Institutos, a Universidade e as Organizações não-governamentais. Sua principal sugestão é a da continuidade da figura do intelectual público brasileiro, diferenciando-se, nesse sentido, das perspectivas que apontam o declínio desse personagem em contextos de forte institucionalização universitária. A inclusão das Ongs nesta reflexão, conquanto extrapole o modelo estabelecido de tratamento do tema no Brasil, busca estimular o debate sobre a atividade intelectual no país, em um momento de grandes transformações estruturais no âmbito da cultura.

This article chooses some subjects for the research on exerting the intellectual activity in the Brazil analyzing three distinct historical moments and the three corresponding ways of organization of intellectuals: the Academies and Institutes, the University, and the non-governmental organizations. The main suggestion is the continuity of the figure of the Brazilian public intellectual, differing from the perspectives that point to the decline of this character in strong university institutionalization contexts. The inclusion of NGOs in the reflection, though surpassing the prevailing model to deal with the theme in Brazil, aims at stimulating the debate on the intellectual activity in the country in a moment of outstanding structural transformations in the realm of culture.

Cet article définit quelques thèmes de recherche à propos de l’exercice de l’activité intellectuelle au Brésil, à partir du découpage de trois moments historiques distincts, auxquels correspondent trois formes d’organisation des intellectuels: les Académies et Instituts; l’Université et les Organisations non-gouvernementales. Sa suggestion principale est la continuité du symbole de l’intellectuel public brésilien, qui diffère des perspectives qui indiquent le déclin de ce personnage dans des contextes de forte institutionnalisation universitaire. L’inclusion des ONGs dans cette réflexion - malgré le fait de transposer le modèle établit de traitement du thème au Brésil - cherche à stimuler le débat à propos de l’activité intellectuelle au Brésil, à un moment de grandes transformations structurelles dans le cadre de la culture.

Because the social science narrative has been extremely important in efforts to account for the process of Brazilian modernization, the study of social scientists themselves has become strategic to understanding Brazilian society’s representation of self. This article examines graduate work in the social sciences, graduate students themselves, and their theses and dissertations. Research has been based on a survey conducted among candidates for master’s degrees and doctorates, as well as on an analysis of doctoral dissertations defended between 1990 and 1997. The study reveals a discipline that is undergoing transformation a product of the process of democratization which its members has undergone and of the internalization of new parameters guiding cognitive production. While this may have implied a loss in the field’s capacity to generalize, it has gained in capillarity, in plurality, and in capacity to understand. This study also pinpoints the limits of the discipline, determined by an institutional situation where greater exchange with the members of society is still missing.

Le style des écrits en sciences sociales ayant une grande importance pour expliquer le processus de modernisation au Brésil, l’étude sur les chercheurs dans ce domaine devient une tâche déterminante dans la compréhension de la représentation sur elle-même que la société brésilienne s’est construit. Dans cet article on examine les cours de pós-graduação en Sciences Sociales, leurs étudiants et leurs thèses. La recherche a considéré, d’un côté, un survey effectué auprès des étudiants en DEA et en doctorat, et, de l’autre, les thèses de doctorat soutenues entre 1990 et 1997. Les résultats révèlent un domaine de connaissances en transformation, résultant du processus de démocratisation de ses effectifs et d’assimilation de nouveaux paramètres vers la production cognitive; si celle-ci est en train de perdre sa capacité de généralisation, par ailleurs elle gagne en finesse d’analyse, en diversité et en aptitude de compréhension. La recherche montre aussi les limites de ce domaine, fixées par une situation institutionnelle qui souffre encore du manque de dialogue avec la société en général.