Abstract
Constructivism has been established in social work without being discussed in detail. Thus, realistic and constructivist concepts now stand side by side. A frequently expressed criticism is that constructivism would not stand up to a profound theoretical discussion because it contains a fundamental pragmatic and self-referential contradiction. In this article, I argue that these can be resolved using the sociological systems-theory of Niklas Luhmann. Thus, an epistemological foundation of social work could be achieved, which divers from the partly pure realism of related disciplines such as psychiatry and psychology in the sense of the afflicted.
Keywords: constructivism, radical constructivism, critics, sociological systems theory