Philosophical research in Brazil: A structural topic modeling approach with a focus on temporal and gender trends
Publication type
journal article
Publication date
2024
Author(s)
Fanton, M.
Mota, H.R.
de Melo Bomfim Araújo, C.
da Silva, M.S.
Canuto, R.
Language
English
Geographical area
Abstract
This paper employs structural topic modeling (STM) to describe the academic philosophy landscape in Brazil. Based on a public national database, a corpus consisting of 12,515 abstracts of monographs defended in philosophy graduate programs between 1991 and 2021 was compiled. The final STM model identified 74 meaningful research topics, clustered into 7 thematic categories. This study discusses the prevalence of the most significant topics and categories, their trends across three decades, and their (positive or negative) association with the supervisor's gender. Results show the first empirical evidence that Brazilian philosophical research exhibits a greater focus on philosophers than on specific themes or problems. Moreover, by visualizing the variations in topic prevalence over time, it was possible to track the rise or decline of the major interest categories and topics. Finally, results also show which topics are more influenced or less influenced by gender. © 2024 Metaphilosophy LLC and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Journal
Metaphilosophy
ISSN
1467-9973
Volume
55
Issue
3
Pagination
457-501