Philosophical and epistemological foundations for massage therapy theories and practices in contemporary Brazil

Abstract

The aim is to stimulate a dialogue between Massage Therapy and Philosophy based on the problem: what are the main epistemological paradigms in contemporary health that guide the theoretical and practical production of massage therapy, especially in the Brazilian context? It is grounded in dialectical-argumentative logic and written in an essayistic style. Based on the publications of Madel Therezinha Luz, contemporary paradigms were identified, their fundamental characteristics in theory and practice were highlighted, and correlations were established. The results were organized around the primary concepts addressed, such as episteme, epistemology, epistemological paradigms, and health, which allow for the articulation of the relationships between Massage Therapy and Philosophy. The biomedical and integrative paradigms were analyzed and discussed separately, with a strategic intermezzo between them, in which the “immanent subversion” was analyzed in light of Baruch Spinoza, and the “vitalist” and “holistic” paradigms, clarifying their definitions and differences..Thus, it is understood that the main epistemological paradigms in health are: biomedical and integrative. On the one hand, the philosophical and exegetical tools used in the interpretation of the biomedical paradigm demonstrated transcendent characteristics in their origin and development, insofar as they evidenced the opposite regarding the integrative paradigm, which, it is understood, is very close to an immanent dynamic. Nevertheless, it was possible to reflect on the incidence of such theorizations on the living being in an integral way, without disregarding its carnality, corporeality, and bodily phenomena.