Abstract
This article argues that the issue of ethics in academic practice must receive the same attention dedicated to it in other professional practices. In fact, a difficulty faced in the debate concerning ethics in academic practice is disregarding that the latter also consists in a social practice, conditioned by the same problems faced by contemporary society, especially in its economic dimension. Thus, this paper discusses utilitarianism in academic practice, having Jürgen Habermas's discourse ethics framework as a basis, and exploring some concerns about Brazilian academic productivism. Methodologically, the theoretical essay format is used as an argumentative procedure in order to build a less formal and more provocative text, instigating reflection and debate on the proposed issues. Specifically, we notice the problem of quantitative appreciation of production without regard to the quality of academic work as an attempt to measure academic activity, as well as a lack of adequate reflection about the ethical and moral values encompassing the scientific and educational activity in Brazil. At last, to illustrate the presented perspective, we resort to hypothetical situations of academic practice, and make conjectures about four correlations between its pragmatic orientation and ethical issues, taking into account the Habermasian construct of strategic action.
Keywords:
Academic productivism; Habermas; Discourse ethics.
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