When the Case File Is Not Enough: Complex Thinking and Forensic Social Work

Abstract

This article offers a first-person reflection on the contribution of Edgar Morin's complex thinking to Forensic Social Work (FSW). It begins with the author's perplexity regarding
the gap between the complexity of human situations and the inadequacy of the legal categories that reduce them to simplified representations. The author argues that the
judicial system operates as a machine of simplification that fragments the subject and proposes Morin's dialogical, hologrammatic, and recursive principles as conceptual tools
for restoring complexity without compromising institutional effectiveness. The article also recounts how this epistemological encounter evolved into an educational project through the incorporation of Epistemology of Complexity and The Interdisciplinary Question as core courses in the FSW specialization program. Finally, it warns against emerging
machines of simplification—actuarial algorithms and artificial intelligence applied to
judicial decision-making—and reaffirms the ethical and epistemological relevance of
Morin's legacy in addressing these contemporary challenges..