Hermeneutic Thought and the Shape of Understanding

Heitor Matallo Junior is a former professor of sociology and senior United Nations officer, where he led global programs on knowledge governance and sustainability under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. He began his academic career studying physics at the University of Brasília, Brazil before earning a degree in social sciences and completing graduate studies in logic and philosophy of science at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil.
His interdisciplinary background spans epistemology, environmental studies, and the history of science. He is the author of Constructing Knowledge: Scientific Methodology, 24th ed. and co-author of Social Sciences, Complexity, and the Environment, both published in Portuguese in Brazil. Since retiring from the UN in 2017, he has focused on philosophical research, with special emphasis on hermeneutics, interpretive theory, and the epistemic foundations of scientific knowledge.