Abstract
The text deals with the theme of the contexts of truth. The theoretical argument of the article is structured around issues raised by the social studies of science and technology, focussing on studies that take into account the differences of legitimation and circulation of scientific knowledge in the peripheral global system of science and technology. It discusses what is called biotechnology system, an articulated complex formed by academic institutions, public companies and private biotechnology research companies specialized in the production of knowledge and technology focused on the manipulation of life. The analysis is developed taking the concept of regime of production of peripheral knowledge, a system of mutual disturbances between systems, limited by the institutional settings of national states, but connected to the technoscientific production centers. This regime, in Brazil, was characterized as a translator for local demands, in this sense as producer of research with only peripheral interest, with limited ability to move through the global network of the system, and therefore neglected in the center.
Keywords
Social studies of science and technology; Scientific system; Center-periphery; Theory of social systems