DOCSLIB.ORG

Art As a Social System

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Art As a Social System This version of Total HTML Converter is unregistered. Home Browse Authors Sources Documents Years Theories Subjects Find Sources Authors Search Simple Advanced Help Previous Source Document Document 1 Next Source Document Produced in collaboration with the University of Chicago. Front Matter by Editor, in Art as a Social System. by Niklas Luhmann. (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 2000). pp. [N pag]-4. [Bibliographic Send mail to [email protected] with questions or comments about this web site. Details] [View Documents] Copyright © 2008 Alexander Street Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved. Terms of use PhiloLogic Software, Copyright © 2008 The University of Chicago. -- [NA] -- Front Matter [Cover] ART AS A SOCIAL SYSTEM Niklas Luhmann TRANSLATED BY EVA M. KNODT -- [NA] -- -- [NA] -- ART ASA SOCIAL SYSTEM -- [NA] -- -- [NA] -- MERIDIAN Crossing Aesthetics Werner Hamacher & David E. Wellbery Editors -- [NA] -- Translated by Eva M. Knodt Stanford University Press Stanford California -- [NA] -- [Title Page and Credits] ART AS A SOCIAL SYSTEM This version of Total HTML Converter is unregistered. Niklas Luhmann -- [NA] -- Stanford University Press Stanford, California © 2000 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University Art as a Social System was originally published in German in 1995 under the title Die Kunst der Gesellschafi, © Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt am Main. Assistance for the translation was provided by Inter Nationes, Bonn. Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Luhmann, Niklas. [Kunst der Gesellschaft. English] Art as a social system / Niklas Luhmann; [translated by Eva M. Knodt]. p. cm. -- (Meridian, crossing aesthetics) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8047-3906-4 (alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-8047-3907-2 (paper: alk. paper) 1. Aesthetics. 2. Art and society. I. Title. II. Meridian (Stanford, Calif.) BH39 .L8313 2000 306.4'7--dc21 00-041050 Original printing 2000 Last figure below indicates year of this printing: 09 08 Typeset by James P. Brommer in 10.9/13 Garamond with Lithos display -- [NA] -- Contents Preface 1 § 1 Perception and Communication: The Reproduction of Forms 5 § 2 Observation of the First and of the Second Order 54 § 3 Medium and Form 102 § 4 The Function of Art and the Differentiation of the Art System 133 § 5 Self-Organization: Coding and Programming 185 § 6 Evolution 211 § 7 Self-Description 244 Notes 319 Index 403 -- [NA] -- -- [NA] -- ART AS A SOCIAL SYSTEM -- [NA] -- -- 1 -- Preface Art as a Social System continues a series that aims to elaborate a theory of society. Since the overall project focuses on theories that deal with individual functional systems, I have considered the elaboration of these systems a priority. The theory of society itself requires two different approaches, assuming (1) that the system as a whole is operatively closed on the basis of communication, and (2) that the functional systems emerging within society conform to, and embody, the principle of operative closure and, therefore, will exhibit comparable structures despite factual differences between them. Comparisons derive force when we recognize that the compared realms differ in all other respects; we can then highlight what is comparable and charge it with special significance. However, to illustrate this point requires an analysis of individual functional systems. The introduction to this series appeared as Soziale Systemem 1984. 1 Since then, the following studies have appeared: Die Wirtschaft der Gesellschaft (1988; The Economy as a Social System); Die Wissenschaft der Gesellschaft (1990; Science as a Social System); and Das Recht der Gesellschaft (1993; Law as a Social System). The volume presented here is the fourth in this series. Further studies are planned. This version of Total HTML Converter is unregistered. This project seeks to distance itself from prevailing social theories that attempt to describe their object in terms of normative, integrative, and unifying concepts. Such theories envision society as a system determined by stratification, that is, by a principle of unequal distribution. In the eighteenth century, a counterdiscourse insisted on the possibility that mankind could nonetheless attain happiness. This promise was replaced in the nineteenth century by the demand for solidarity. In the twentieth century, politics -- 2 -- was put in charge of establishing equal living conditions throughout the world--a demand frequently made upon democratization or developmental and political modernization. As this century draws to a close, we are far from realizing universal happiness and satisfaction. Nor have we reached the goals of achieving solidarity and creating equal living conditions. One can continue to insist on these demands and call them "ethics," but it becomes difficult to ignore their increasingly apparent Utopian component. This is why we recommend rewriting the theory of society. To do so requires a shift, at the structural level, from stratification to functional differentiation. The unity of society is not to be sought in ethico-political demands, but rather in the emergence of comparable conditions in systems as diverse as religion or the monetary economy, science or art, intimate relationships or politics--despite extreme differences between the functions and the operational modes of these systems. Our theoretical proposition offers the following: a clear demarcation of external system boundaries of different domains and comparability between different systems. Talcott Parsons launched a similar experiment, taking the comparability of all subsystems of the general action system for granted. He believed that each action system, even in the position of subsystem or subsubsystem, needed to fulfill four functions to be complete, that is, if it were to exist as a system capable of maintaining its boundaries and orienting itself in relation to temporal differences. This is not the place to argue with Parsons's position. What matters is that with Parsons, the comparability of subsystems began to occupy a pivotal theoretical position in sociology. In what follows, we do not propose a theory as rigorously derived as Parsons's from an analysis of the concept of action. Instead, what interests us is another one of Parsons's ideas: that each evolutionary differentiation process must reconstruct the unity of the differentiated system. This does not presuppose central norms, no matter how generalized. In our modern (some would say postmodern) society, such norms are difficult to detect. It suffices that all subsystems employ the operational mode of the system as a whole, in this case communication, and that they are capable of fulfilling the conditions of system formation--namely, autopoiesis and operative closure-- no matter how complex the emerging structures turn out to be. Carrying out this program in the realm of art requires theoretical models that cannot be extracted from observing works of art and can be demonstrated in the communicative employment of these works. Here we use distinctions such as system/environment, medium/form, first- and second-order -- 3 -- observation, self-reference and external reference, and above all the distinction between psychic systems (systems of consciousness) and social systems (systems of communication); none is meant to assist in judging or creating works of art. We are not offering a helpful theory of art. This does not exclude the possibility that the art system, in its own operations, may profit from a theoretical endeavor intended to clarify the context and contingency of art from a sociotheoretical perspective. Whether such a transposition of insights can be accomplished and what kind of misunderstandings may contribute to its success must be decided within the art system itself, for "to succeed" can mean only "to succeed as a work of art." The issue is not to propose a theory that, if properly understood and applied, would guarantee success or assist the art system in coping with its worries about the future. It follows from the general theory of functional social differentiation that functional systems are incapable of directly influencing one another. At the same time, their coexistence increases their mutual irritability. Science [Wissenschaft], here specifically sociological theory, must open itself to irritation through art. Science must be able to observe what is presented as art. In this basic sense, sociological theory is an empirical science (according to its own self-description, at any rate). But the labor of transforming irritation into information that can be used within science is an entirely internal affair. The proof must be delivered within science. Art becomes a topic in the first place, not because of a peculiar inclination of the author, but because of the assumption that a social theory claiming universality cannot ignore the existence of art. In view of how these intentions have been realized in this book, we acknowledge that it turned out to be difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish the systematics of the system from the bare facts while bracketing historical analyses (as it would have been feasible with the economic system, the system of science, and the legal system). Aesthetic endeavors involving art have always separated themselves from a historical discourse oriented toward facts. This was the case in the poesialhistoria discussion of the sixteenth century with its emphasis on "beautiful
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Systems Theory and Complexity: a Potential Tool for Radical Analysis Or the Emerging Social Paradigm for the Internationalised Market Economy?
    DEMOCRACY & NATURE: The International Journal of INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY Vol. 6, No. 3 (November 2000) Systems theory and complexity: a potential tool for radical analysis or the emerging social paradigm for the internationalised market economy? TAKIS FOTOPOULOS Abstract: The aim of this paper is to critically assess the claims of systems theory and complexity in the analysis of social change and particularly to examine the view that ―if certain conditions are met― both could potentially be useful tools for radical analysis. The conclusion drawn from this analysis is that, although systems theory and complexity are useful tools in the natural sciences in which they offer many useful insights, they are much less useful in social sciences and indeed are incompatible, both from the epistemological point of view and that of their content, with a radical analysis aiming to systemic change towards an inclusive democracy. Introduction It was almost inevitable that the present demise of Marxism would bring about a revised form of functionalism/evolutionism, which had almost eclipsed in the sixties and the seventies, particularly in areas like the sociology of development where it had been replaced by neo-Marxist and dependency theories. The new version of functionalism/evolutionism is much more sophisticated than the original Parsonian functionalist paradigm and incorporates recent developments in “hard” sciences to produce a new “general” theory of social systems. A primary example of such an attempt is Niklas Luhmann’s Social Systems[1] which we
    [Show full text]
  • Review of Niklas Luhmann, Ecological Communiaction
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Departmental Papers (ASC) Annenberg School for Communication 1991 Review of Niklas Luhmann, Ecological Communiaction Klaus Krippendorff University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Krippendorff, K. (1991). Review of Niklas Luhmann, Ecological Communiaction. Journal of Communication, 41 (1), 136-140. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1991.tb02297.x Krippendorff, K. (1991). Review of "Ecological Communication, by Niklas Luhmann. Chicago. IL: University of Chicago Press, 1989." Journal of Communication, 41(1), 136-140. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.1991.tb02297.x This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/527 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Review of Niklas Luhmann, Ecological Communiaction Disciplines Communication | Social and Behavioral Sciences Comments Krippendorff, K. (1991). Review of "Ecological Communication, by Niklas Luhmann. Chicago. IL: University of Chicago Press, 1989." Journal of Communication, 41(1), 136-140. doi: 10.1111/ j.1460-2466.1991.tb02297.x This review is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/527 Society as self-referential Ecological Communication by Niklas Luhmann. Translated by John Bednarz, Jr. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989. xviii + 187 pages. $34.95 (hard). A review by Klaus Krippendorff University of Pennsylvania Ecological Communication is important, especially for sociologically oriented communication scholars. The book, published in German in 1986, is one of Niklas Luhmann’s later works, most of which are not available in English. It incorporates many of the more recent developments along the author’s intellectual path and therefore can serve as an introduction to his current thinking.
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese Public Diplomacy: the Rise of the Confucius Institute / Falk Hartig
    Chinese Public Diplomacy This book presents the first comprehensive analysis of Confucius Institutes (CIs), situating them as a tool of public diplomacy in the broader context of China’s foreign affairs. The study establishes the concept of public diplomacy as the theoretical framework for analysing CIs. By applying this frame to in- depth case studies of CIs in Europe and Oceania, it provides in-depth knowledge of the structure and organisation of CIs, their activities and audiences, as well as problems, chal- lenges and potentials. In addition to examining CIs as the most prominent and most controversial tool of China’s charm offensive, this book also explains what the structural configuration of these Institutes can tell us about China’s under- standing of and approaches towards public diplomacy. The study demonstrates that, in contrast to their international counterparts, CIs are normally organised as joint ventures between international and Chinese partners in the field of educa- tion or cultural exchange. From this unique setting a more fundamental observa- tion can be made, namely China’s willingness to engage and cooperate with foreigners in the context of public diplomacy. Overall, the author argues that by utilising the current global fascination with Chinese language and culture, the Chinese government has found interested and willing international partners to co- finance the CIs and thus partially fund China’s international charm offensive. This book will be of much interest to students of public diplomacy, Chinese politics, foreign policy and international relations in general. Falk Hartig is a post-doctoral researcher at Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, and has a PhD in Media & Communication from Queensland Univer- sity of Technology, Australia.
    [Show full text]
  • Unlocking Luhmann
    Claudio Baraldi, Giancarlo Corsi, Elena Esposito Unlocking Luhmann BiUP General Claudio Baraldi published several works in international books and journals on communication systems. His research concerns interaction systems related to fa- cilitation of children's participation, interlinguistic and intercultural mediation, conflict management. Giancarlo Corsi worked and published intensely on the theory of social systems, public opinion and communication media, education, career and social inclusion. His current research deals with the relationship between public sphere, mass me- dia, and new communication technologies. Elena Esposito published many works on the theory of social systems, media the- ory, memory theory, and sociology of financial markets. Her current research on algorithmic prediction is supported by a five-year Advanced Grant from the Euro- pean Research Council. Claudio Baraldi, Giancarlo Corsi, Elena Esposito Unlocking Luhmann A Keyword Introduction to Systems Theory Translation by Katherine Walker Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National- bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http:// dnb.d-nb.de This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 (BY- ND) license, which means that the text may be shared and redistributed, provided credit is given to the author, but may not be remixed, transformed or build upon. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ To create an adaptation, translation, or derivative of the original work, further permis- sion is required and can be obtained by contacting [email protected] Creative Commons license terms for re-use do not apply to any content (such as graphs, figures, photos, excerpts, etc.) not original to the Open Access publication and further permission may be required from the rights holder.
    [Show full text]
  • 82 Chapter IV Niklas Luhmann's Communicative Systems Theory
    Chapter IV Niklas Luhmann’s Communicative Systems Theory Framework With his concentrated formulations in Ecological Communication (1989), Luhmann deals with ecological communication far more directly than Bateson. In principle, that must make it easier to introduce his framework, especially given the additional facility his highly systematic approach to both writing and composing was supposed to impart. In reality, however, it is no less difficult introducing Luhmann in the current context because of the following factors: One, he has been no less lucky than was Bateson at having been “discovered” and had his general thought introduced by the excellent introducers to his individual books that have been translated into English.1 Two, the temptation to introduce Luhmann’s overall social theory, instead of focusing strictly on his theory of EC, is enormous: The temptation is only transformed into a treacherous pressure because of his systematic style of writing and conceptualization in which each one of his individual philosophical forays is to a great extent a specific replay of his overall philosophy. For example, his theory of EC is, in most ways, a tightly- designed and shortened localization of his larger philosophy of social systems. Three, and in relation to the above, it is also very tempting to introduce the history of systems theory as a whole (part of which I have done already in the earlier part of this essay), make a comprehensive gesture at placing Luhmann’s particular interventions within it (constitutive of his overall systems philosophy), and then to place his theory of EC within the above two. And, four, Luhmann’s work is highly self-referential, obtuse, abstract, and frightfully repetitive! What follows below does not completely resolve the above technical difficulties of introducing—some of which translate, on the whole, into the age-old problem of detecting and managing avoidable detail.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Systems
    Home Browse Authors Sources Documents Years Theories Subjects Find Sources Authors Search Simple Advanced Help Previous Source Document Document 1 Next Source Document Front Matter by Editor, in Social Systems. [by] Niklas Luhmann and translated by John Bednarz, Jr. with Dirk Baecker. (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 1995). pp. [N pag]-11. [Bibliographic Details] [View Documents] -- [NA] -- Front Matter [Cover] SOCIAL SYSTEMS Niklas Luhmann TRANSLATED BY John Bcdnarz, Jr. WITH Dirk Baecker -- [NA] -- -- [NA] -- SOCIAL SYSTEMS -- [NA] -- -- [NA] -- WRITING SCIENCE EDITORS Timothy Lenoir and Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht -- [NA] -- -- [NA] -- [Title Page and Credits] SOCIAL SYSTEMS Niklas Luhmann TRANSLATED BY John Bednarz, Jr., with Dirk Baecker FOREWORD BY Eva M. Knodt STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS STANFORD, CALIFORNIA -- [NA] -- Assistance for the translation was provided by Inter Nationes Social Systems was originally published in German in 1984 as Soziale Systeme: Grundriβ einer allgemeinen Theorie, © 1984 Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt am Main. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California © 1995 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University Printed in the United States of America CIP data appear at the end of the book Original printing 1995 -- [NA] -- Contents Foreword ix Instead of a Preface to the English Edition: On the Concepts "Subject" and "Action" xxxvii Preface to the German Edition xlv Introduction: Paradigm Change in Systems Theory 1 1. System and Function 12 2. Meaning 59 3. Double Contingency 103 4. Communication and Action 137 5. System and Environment 176 6. Interpenetration 210 7. The Individuality of Psychic Systems 255 8. Structure and Time 278 9. Contradiction and Conflict 357 10. Society and Interaction 405 11.
    [Show full text]
  • Niklas Luhmann Neosystemic Theory and the Notion of Communicative Autopoiesis in Organizational Studies
    A teoria neosistêmica de Niklas Luhmann e a noção de autopoiese comunicativa nos estudos organizacionais Josep Pont Vidal Universidade Federal do Pará / Núcleo Altos Estudos Amazônicos, Belém – PA, Brasil Resumo Na teoria dos sistemas autorreferenciais, de Niklas Luhmann, a análise das organizações ocupa lugar de destaque, mas tem sido objeto de inúmeras controvérsias. Nos últimos anos, vêm sendo produzidos um diálogo e um cruzamento com os representantes da filosofia social pós-estruturalista, em particular, com aspectos referentes às possibilidades autorreferenciais das comunicações e da linguagem. Na atuali- dade, são diversos os pontos de vista teóricos que convergem para uma autodefinição construtivista, ecológica e sistêmica. Como possibili- dade alternativa às limitações autopoiéticas na observação das organizações, propõe-se a ideia de autopoiese reflexiva. Palavras-chave: Teoria de sistemas autorreferenciais. Pós-estruturalismo. Teoria organizacional. Autopoiese reflexiva. Niklas Luhmann neosystemic theory and the notion of communicative autopoiesis in organizational studies Abstract The analysis of organizations stands out in Niklas Luhmann’s theory of self-referential systems. However, this analysis has been subject of controversies. In recent years, a dialogue and an exchange of opinions with representatives of poststructuralist social philosophy have been in place, particularly regarding self-referential possibilities of communication and language. Currently there are several theoretical viewpoints converging to a constructivist,
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded 4.0 License
    Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society 5 (2019) 493–515 brill.com/jrat Intensifying and De-intensifying Distinctions A Meditation on Imagining the Form of a Border Marin Terpstra Radboud University, Nijmegen Erasmusplein 1, 6525 HT Nijmegen, The Netherlands [email protected] Abstract In this article I explore different ways of imagining distinctions in the form of borders and on the attitudes that people assume towards them. A distinction is primarily a cognitive operation, but appears as such in human communication (people talking about differences and identities), and in constructions that shape the material space people live in (borders, buildings, and the like). I explore two extreme positions, the one de-intensifying distinctions by focusing on their logical and contingent forms, the other intensifying distinctions by making them a potential cause of conflict. The first one is exemplified by Spencer Brown’s and Niklas Luhmann’s reflection on the logical and sociological aspects of distinctions; the second one by Carl Schmitt’s theory of ‘the political’ and its key notion of the distinction between friend and enemy. Both positions are relevant to understand a major debate and struggle in the world of today between liberal cosmopolitans and authoritarian nationalists. I show in what way both positions are aspects of the human condition, and what makes that alter- nately the one or the other is stressed. Keywords distinctions – borders – transgression – identity – conflict … Borders make no sense to me. Unless we are crossing those borders – that makes sense to me. To be a human being, or a bird or a fish, or whatever that lives in the world […] if there is a border […] the excitement of a © Marin Terpstra, 2020 | doi:10.30965/23642807-00502010 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ndDownloaded 4.0 License.
    [Show full text]
  • The Controversy Between Niklas Luhmann and Jűrgen Habermas Related to Sociological Approach to Law
    SEEU Review Volume 16 Issue 1 This journal provides immediate open access to its content under the Creative Commons BY 4.0 license. Authors who publish with this journal retain all copyrights and agree to the terms of the above-mentioned CC BY 4.0 license DOI: 10.2478/seeur-2021-0004 THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN NIKLAS LUHMANN AND JŰRGEN HABERMAS RELATED TO SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH TO LAW Assoc. Prof. Aleksandar Jovanoski Law Faculty – Kicevo, str. Rudnicka b.b. Kicevo, University of St. Clement of Ohrid, Bitola, North Macedonia [email protected] Assoc. Prof. Agron Rustemi Faculty of Contemporary Social Sciences - South Eastern University Tetovo, str. Ilindenska n.335, Tetovo, North Macedonia [email protected] ABSTRACT The aim of the paper is to present a brief insight into the significant works and views of the German sociologists Niklas Luhmann and Jűrgen Habermas on the role of law in regulating human relations in society. Educated as a lawyer, Niklas Luhmann in the late academic career was under the influence of the American sociologist Talcott Parsons. Niklas Luhmann later, under the influence of the American sociologist Talcott Parsons, he built a sociological theoretical system called the systems theory. On the other side, Jűrgen Habermas was a philosopher and sociologist, highly influenced by the Frankfurt school of sociology. According to Luhmann`s systems theory, the social reality and the separate aspects of the social 3 SEEU Review Volume 16 Issue 1 life are part of a deeper system called society, and in relation to the same they are set as subsystems.
    [Show full text]
  • Niklas Luhmann and the Body: Irritating Social Systems Francis Halsall Visual Culture, National College of Art and Design, Thomas Street, Dublin 8, Ireland
    the new bioethics, Vol. 18 No. 1, May, 2012, 4–20 Niklas Luhmann and the Body: Irritating Social Systems Francis Halsall Visual Culture, National College of Art and Design, Thomas Street, Dublin 8, Ireland For Niklas Luhmann the body seems to almost disappear in modernity. Modern society, he argues, is a system comprised of a number of operatively closed and functionally distinct sub-systems such as economics, science, law, the mass media and so on. Each system is autonomous and observes the world in its own terms via its internal communications. Thus, Luhmann’s sociology is generally characterized as a post-human one. That is, one in which the basic unit of both social agency and sociological analysis is not the embodied human subject but rather instances of impersonal communica- tion. This article offers a challenge to this by arguing that the body still has a significant function in Luhmann’s account of social systems. My claim is that the body has the ability to migrate between different systems and, thus, has a transcendent status in social systems. That is, the body can migrate between social systems and, in Luhmann’s terms, irritate them in significant ways. keywords body, Niklas Luhmann, second-order cybernetics, social systems, transcendental philosophy This idea of humanism cannot continue. Who would seriously and deliberately want to maintain that society could be formed on the model of a human being, that is, with a head at the top and so on? Niklas Luhmann (1996: 213) Both the advocates and critics of the social systems theory of Niklas Luhmann (1927–1998) agree that he represents a significant challenge to anthropocentric models of society and sociology.
    [Show full text]
  • Preliminary Concepts for Economic Systems Analysis Yoshiro Kamitake
    Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics 49 (2008), pp.133-147. Ⓒ Hitotsubashi University PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS FOR ECONOMIC SYSTEMS ANALYSIS YOSHIRO KAMITAKE Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University Kunitachi, Tokyo 186-8601, Japan [email protected] Accepted September 2008 Abstract In preparing theoretical tools to analyze economic systems we need several fundamental concepts that are often applied in various scientific investigations outside economic studies. Amongst others, the concept of autopoiesis, which was introduced by Niklas Luhmann into his sociological systems theory, is the most important in constructing a theoretical model to explain the working of economic systems. An autopoietic system may be regarded as the functional core by which other elementary concepts such as homeostasis, machinery, corporate system and social entropy can be logically connected. In conclusion, all economic systems are contained in distinct social systems of autopoietic character and incorporated with them as a subsystem or partially independent system. Keywords: system, autopoiesis JFL Classification: B00, B41 Since the 1970s the sociological importance of the system concept based on general systems theory has been emphasized in the reconstruction of fundamental methodological concepts such as ʻstructureʼ and ʻfunctionʼ, and consequently several significant issues concerning its application to social sciences have been raised by sociologists and social philosophers.1 Amongst others, Niklas Luhmann, a German sociologist and philosopher, constructed a far-reaching framework of social systems theory.2 In the present article, we apply his social systems theory to the sphere of economic systems. Our aim is to universalize and formalize the perspective of social systems theory, and then to redefine the concept of system so that it is efficiently applicable to any economic systems analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • LUHMANN FRENTE a HABERMAS Por Santiago Martín Arnedo Doctor Por La Universidad De Granada24 [email protected]
    DOS TALANTES TEÓRICOS: LUHMANN FRENTE A HABERMAS Por Santiago Martín Arnedo Doctor por la Universidad de Granada24 [email protected] Recibido/Received: 4/9/2018. Aceptado/Accepted: 15/10/2018 Two theoretical personalities: Luhmann against Habermas. RESUMEN Este trabajo pretende poner de manifiesto las dos posturas predomi- nantes en Alemania en teoría sociológica: la primera, de corte funciona- lista, representada por Niklas Luhmann, y la segunda, con un claro per- fil normativo, representada por Jürgen Habermas. Ambos entablaron una discusión, todavía abierta, cuyos resultados pueden ser importantes para investigar la naturaleza del hecho social. El primero es acusado de conservador, el segundo de anteponer la normatividad a la exigencia neutral científica. Los presupuestos filosóficos de ambos parecen irre- nunciables. Es posible que en el futuro podamos definir un punto de unión entre ambas teorías. Palabras clave: Luhmann, Habermas, Funcionalismo, Teoría Crítica 24 Se ha especializado en el pensamiento y la literatura en la Alemania del siglo XX. Además de artículos sobre Gadamer, Luhmann y Habermas, entre otros, en revis- tas especializadas, se ha centrado en la traducción y estudio de la literatura alema- na: Kaschnitz, Rilke, Goethe, etc. 47 Asociación Extremeña de Sociología (ACISE) ABSTRAC This article aims to explain the two dominant positions in Germany in sociological theory: the first, functionalist, represented by Niklas Luhmann, and the second, with a clear normative profile, represented by Jürgen Habermas. Both engaged in a discussion, still open, whose results may be important to investigate the nature of the social fact. The first accused of conservative, the second of putting the normativity be- fore the scientific requirement.
    [Show full text]