Origin of Life, as curricular content, is a controversial
topic. Knowledge from various areas supports several hypotheses
and plausible scenarios to explain how life originated on
Earth, making room for the conflicts that exist in this matter,
in addition to expressing characteristics of the nature of
scientific knowledge. It is in this perspective that the approach
can be linked with the History and Philosophy of Science
(HPS), so that views of science that refer to the linearity
of knowledge construction and the absence of conflicts are
not reinforced. The discourse analysis proposed by Michel
Foucault can be used as an analytical device to think about the
approach of History and Philosophy of Science recommended
in textbooks of basic education. Therefore, this work aims to
see which discourse(s) go about the theories on the school
content “Origin of Life”, strictly in relation to the theories of
Spontaneous Generation and Gradual Chemical Evolution, in
the elementary school textbooks for the 7th grade. The analysis
indicates that the theories of Gradual Chemical Evolution
and Spontaneous Generation are recurrent in textbooks with
a positivist historiographical aspect, composing statements that
establish the potential circulation and legitimation of scientific
knowledge.
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