Harkitnas: BRIN Chief Urges Researchers to Break Free from Western Epistemic Trap

An epistemic awakening is a revival of the way we view science. For too long, we have fallen into the epistemic trap, the Western epistemic trap, that science is neutral, that science is technical, BRIN Chief Arif Satria said at an event in Jakarta during the inauguration of a professor of research on Thursday. The head of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) emphasised that the essence of the national awakening for a state research body should not be reduced merely to political, economic development or technological progress.

“Why do I call it an epistemic awakening? An epistemic awakening is a revival of the mindset about knowledge. We have long fallen into the epistemic trap, the Western epistemic trap, that knowledge is neutral, that knowledge is technical,” Arif Satria said.

He urged a pressing urgency to strengthen a new approach to knowledge that is rooted in noble human values.

“We cannot simply continue to rely on technocratic approaches without value,” he added.

Therefore, researchers are called not to be mere followers of global agendas, but to act as steers of the direction of future research by synergising the power of logical reasoning with the heart.

According to Arif, the power of the heart and wisdom are crucial instruments that can never be replaced by advances in artificial intelligence (AI) in producing transformative research.

Indonesia, he continued, must possess firm confidence to map its own realities by leveraging the wealth of cultural values and the abundant biodiversity of the nation.

He cited the statements of the renowned global scientist Albert Einstein who said, “once you stop learning you start dying” or, in Bahasa Indonesia, “begitu kamu berhenti belajar, kamu mulai mati.”

“So, shifting from knowledge consumers to knowledge producers. That is the message I must deliver, and the model for us to become producers of knowledge,” said BRIN Head Arif Satria.