The views on science and reality in Richard P. Feynman's statements: A metalinguistic analysis of some of his textbooks and scientific dissemination

Abstract This work makes an inroad through some works of Richard Feynman, with a metalinguistic analysis of Quantum Physics statements in the Lectures on Physics, as well as in QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter and The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman. We investigate how the theme, compositional structure, and lexical choices express the enunciation of epistemological and ontological visions underlying the presentation of physical content. Our results show that the young scientist presents the physical content axiologically aligned with the Copenhagen Interpretation, acquiring at times a positivist bias. However, in later post-Lectures on Physics works, Feynman takes a stance of greater concern with scientific dissemination. The directionality, the speech scheme, and the intentionality of his utterances make his texts full of complex views on the nature of scientific theories. It is concluded that Feynman's set of works makes a useful contribution to the teaching of physics and the dissemination of science, adopting different voices about the nature of reality and science, being responsible for the sociopolitical period of the different utterances, which is a rich example of scientific and pedagogical non-neutrality.