Ecology of Knowledges: Intercultural dialogues and decolonial discourses for a sustainable development

Abstract

Within the framework of counter-hegemonic philosophies, the ecology of knowledge represents a viable epistemological alternative to the dominant scientific thought, valuing pluralism and cognitive justice. Under these premises, the objective of this research was to critically examine the dialogue of knowledge as an epistemological space in which intercultural encounters and decolonial discourses are developed that, in the 21st century, bet on political and economic models of sustainable development. Methodologically, use was made of documentary research and an open interview with a prominent Eastern European philosopher. The conclusions highlight that the ecology of knowledge is not limited to epistemic coexistence but demands a combative relational ontology that dismantles the colonial architectures inscribed in the paradigms of hegemonic development, such as scientific socialism or neoliberal capitalism. The political militancy proposed here operates on three simultaneous fronts: as an epistemology of insubmission that rejects Eurocentric criteria of scientific validation; as a pedagogy of disobedience that turns intercultural dialogues into spaces of counter-hegemony; and as an ethic of shared vulnerability that recognizes the radical interdependence between humans and non-humans in the ecologies of the Global South.