This article discusses a lecture given by Professor Jean-Claude Forquin on June 17, 1997, at the international seminar celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Graduate Courses of the Faculty of Education (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro). Basically, I question Forquin's argument in favor of a curriculum where the so-called "sciences" would appear as representing a supposed universality of knowledge, whereas the other, less "precise" and more "cultural" disciplines would be seen as the expression of epistemological relativity. My position, in contrast, is that both "types" of knowledge should be viewed as social and cultural constructions, and are therefore subject to the same questioning and criticism.
Universality; relativism; curriculum; culture; multiculturalism