Resumo. ABSTRACT This study discusses theoretical reverberations that stand out in the field of Physical Education (PE) in Brazil in the face of epistemological discussions demarcated within the scope of PE in the USA from the 1960s onwards, and due to the contributions of the Disciplinary Movement and the context by which Kinesiology then established its position as a scope in the field of American PE. An exploratory literature review was carried out with the following guiding question: what is the impact of the epistemological developments of North American PE on the configuration of the general theory of PE in Brazil? From this perspective, we verified the authors in the Brazilian field who took a position on the resonances and limits arising from the conjectures of the scientific field of PE in the USA. Through this investigation, some processes of inhibition were highlighted by which the proposal of Kinesiology could not increase reflections in Brazil, with few exceptions.