From M. Richmond to K.R. Popper and E. Lévinas: toward a scientific approach and ethical knowledge for Social Work

Abstract

As we find ourselves in the midst of a debate regarding the scientific nature or the lack thereof of theoretical-practical disciplines such as Social Work, this article aims to succinctly present two alternatives by which Social Work may obtain a scientific rank on par with ethical knowledge. Our opinion is that the only theory specific to Social Work is the one proposed by M. E. Richmond. A proposal that, from K. R. Popper’s point of view, is still pseudoscientific given its inductive nature, and from the point of view of E. Lévinas, is ontological and tends to definitively categorize the Other. The objective of this article, therefore, is to analyze Popper’s as well as Lévinas’ proposals in order to provide an approach to Social Work with ethical-scientific alternatives to the inductive and categorizing proposal put forward by Richmond, using a historical-systematic methodology which consists of analyzing the most important works of these authors as well as the ethics of social intervention.