Epistemologically assessing the complexity of forensic social work

Abstract

This paper aims to think epistemologically about the complexity of forensic social work. In order to achieve the proposed objective, the argumentative strategy is organized as follows. First, we develop the theoretical and conceptual foundation of an epistemological meta‑model for thinking about science and knowledge. This meta‑model analyzes and integrates the concepts of “truth game”, developed by Michel Foucault; the concept of epistemic framework, developed in the field of constructivist epistemology by Jean Piaget and Rolando García, and the concept of paradigm proposed by Edgar Morin in the development of his philosophy of complex thought. Second, the epistemological meta‑model is used to analyze three conceptions of science: the scientistic model, the postmodern model and the complex model. Finally, we epistemologically analyze the practices of forensic social work in the prism of the meta‑model and the three conceptualized epistemological models.