Research in Social Work: the future in the present. Reflections on the portuguese knowledge building process
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Abstract
The debate surrounding the construction of scientific knowledge within social work is discussed. The social work class seeks new foundations that allow within the context of structural change, the strengthening of professional identity and challenge of the vestiges of intellectual segregation that historical constraints have left. This paper seeks to outline a research strategy for reconciliation and coordination of intellectual and professional work in order to give visibility to new and different domains of interpretation and action, while claiming that considering pluri-perspectives potentiates the knowledge transformation process. Underlining this confluence of complex thinking elements, this article incorporates the space-time dimension and discusses and recognizes the unavoidable circularity as a way to interrogate knowledge that is compartmentalized and fragmented, placing an emphasis both on knowledge and on the interrelationship between knowing, doing, being and relating. In addition, examines the recognition of the nature of those relationships among various disciplines and perspectives.