DOCSLIB.ORG

Systems Theory and Complexity: a Potential Tool for Radical Analysis Or the Emerging Social Paradigm for the Internationalised Market Economy?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
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almost eclipsed in the sixties and the seventies, particularly in areas like the sociology of development where it had been replaced by neo-Marxist and dependency theories.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 shall consider in this paper. My aim will not be to assess the undoubted significance of systems theory within the “orthodox” social sciences paradigm but to examine, instead, whether systems theory and complexity (or parts of it) may constitute a useful tool of radical analysis, as some thinkers in the Left suggest.[2] My contention is that the emerging systems theory and complexity paradigm, far from constituting a useful tool of radical analysis of the present society, may easily become the dominant social paradigm[3] of the present internationalised market economy. The overall aim of Luhmann’s work is to develop a new “general” theory of social systems that would fully utilise the conceptual resources of modern science and particularly the principles of self-organization, whose use in a great number of different disciplines signals a fundamental paradigm shift in the sciences —a “scientific revolution” in the Kuhnian sense.[4] The rationale behind such an attempt is to transcend the postmodern predicament and show that the end of metanarratives does not mean the end of theory. The intermediate target, which functions also as means to achieve this aim, is to link social theory to recent theoretical developments in scientific disciplines as diverse as modern physics, information theory, general systems theory, neurophysiology, and cognitive science. As Eva Knodt points out in her foreword:[5] “Social Systems does not present a sociological analysis of modern society or a theory of society but elaborates the general conceptual framework for such a theory. It supplies the instruments for observing a variety of social systems —societies, organizations, and interactions— not primarily such observations themselves” (…) But unlike Kant —and here Luhmann parts company with transcendentalism and all forms of foundational philosophy— systems theory turns away from the knowing subject to a reality that consists solely of self-referential systems and their “empirically” observable operations. (It goes without saying that the self- referential operations of theory are part and parcel of that reality.) The observations of systems theory are both situated and interested observations. They focus on a specific problem —the problem of social complexity from within one of society’s particular subsystems, science. The Kantian question of how a subject can have objective knowledge of reality thus gives way to the question: How is organized complexity possible? It is therefore obvious that the epistemological issue plays a crucial role in Luhman’s work and it is consequently a good starting point in assessing this work. We shall continue with a critical assessment of systems theory and complexity, as well as of their political implications and we shall conclude with our assessment of the usefulness of this theory as a radical tool of analysis, i.e. a tool of anti-systemic analysis aiming at an inclusive democracy. 1. Social systems and the epistemology of systems theory and complexity The liberatory project and the traditional epistemologies One way to assess the epistemology of Luhmann’s theory as a radical tool of analysis is to consider its applicability with respect to the inclusive democracy project. As I tried to show elsewhere,[6] the liberatory project for an inclusive democracy can not and should not be based on the “objectivism” of the main epistemological traditions, i.e. either empiricism/positivism and rationalism, or the alternative dialectical tradition. Such an objectivism I argued there is not feasible as regards social phenomena, nor is it desirable. It is not feasible because a society based on a market economy and representative democracy is a divided society in which political, economic and social power is concentrated in a few hands: those of the various elites which control the economic or political process, the mass media and so on. This implies that the analysis of social systems can never achieve the degree of intersubjectivity that characterizes natural sciences, whose object of study — unlike the object of study of social sciences— is not characerised by “class” divisions which inevitably affect the former. Equally non-feasible is the project of deriving a general theory of social “evolution”, on the basis of an “objective” interpretation of social or natural History, as dialectical materialism and dialectical naturalism have respectively attempted to do. And it is not desirable because any claim to “objectivity” in justifying a liberatory project would almost inevitably lead to hierarchical divisions within the liberatory movement between those “who know” the “laws” of social movement and can therefore derive the necessary strategic and tactical conclusions and those at the other end who simply have to implement the policy prescriptions drawn by the “theory experts”. The Marxist case is an obvious example of such a hierarchical division created within the pre- revolutionary movements —a division that was later institutionalized when these movements took over power. The conclusion I derived from this analysis was that the liberatory project for an inclusive democracy can only be based on a democratic rationalism, which transcends both the modernist “scientism”/“objectivism”, as well as the postmodernist subjectivism and relativism. But, let us see the major differences between the main epistemological traditions so that we may meaningfully assess the epistemological claims of systems theory and complexity. The major difference between these traditions was the one referring to the criterion of truth. Thus, rationalism reflects a coherence theory of truth,[7] according to which the criterion of truth is coherence with other propositions or judgments, something consistent with the deductive method of analysis. Empiricism, on the other hand, reflects a completely different theory of truth, a correspondence theory, according to which the criterion of truth is correspondence with fact, although, as modern versions of the theory have shown, it is certainly not always the case that every statement can be correlated with a fact.[8] Logical Positivism, which claimed that it had created a synthesis between the two epistemological traditions, that is, between, on the one hand, the deductive and a priori rationalism and, on the other, the inductive and a posteriori empiricism, also failed to produce “objective” criteria of truth, as Popper, Lakatos[9] and others have shown, ending up not as an objective methodology, but rather as an ideology “inhibiting the growth of knowledge and serving the interest of the status quo”. [10] It was the arrival of the “Kuhnian revolution”[11] which brought the power relation into orthodox epistemology through the adoption of the relativistic position of “truth by consensus”. What is “scientific” or “objectively true” becomes now a function of the degree of Intersubjectivity, that is, of the degree of consensus achieved among the theorists in a particular discipline. The Kuhnian “paradigm” concept implied the non-existence of objectivity, either in the sense of tradition —independent truths, or in the sense of tradition— independent ways of finding truths.[12] The dialectical analysis, usually used by radical social theorists to justify the needs for an alternative society, claimed to be able to see the contradiction between the parts and the whole in knowledge (the parts can only be seen through the whole which envelops them, whereas the whole can only be seen through factual knowledge of the parts) the contradiction between individuals and society (individuals can only be seen through society, whereas society can only be seen through knowledge of individuals), as well as the contradiction between the real given and the possible, uniting, through the social praxis, Theory and Practice, the individual and the community. Therefore, the concept of objectivity in dialectics takes on a very different meaning from the traditional notion of objectivity in empiricism/positivism.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Complexity of Social Systems and Paradoxes of Contemporary Security Theory and Policy Making
    Czeslaw Mesjasz Cracow University of Economics Kraków, Poland [email protected] Complexity of social systems and paradoxes of contemporary security theory and policy making Paper presented at the CEEISA-ISA 2016 Joint International Conference Ljubljana, Slovenia 23-25 June 2016 (A very preliminary crude draft version, not for quotation) 1. Introduction The grand ideas such as, for example, the risk society of Beck [1992], complexity-stimulated crises discussed by Tainter [1988, 2000], Diamond [1997, 2005], ingenuity gap of Homer-Dixon [2002], and other similar, less publicized visions, lead to the following question. Was the world simpler and less risky in the past? The question brings about several paradoxes embodying actors and issues relating to broadly defined security. On the one hand we are intuitively aware that the present global society with development of IT and all its consequences, increasing number of societal interactions and environmental threats is becoming more difficult to comprehend. On the other, modern science allows for better understanding of the world. It may be then hypothesize that the contemporary discourse on the risk society and complexity of society is not correct when compared with the state of the world in any time in the past and much lower level of understanding of the world in that time. It may be even stated provocatively that although the number of social scientists is increasing only a relatively small of them have a deepened knowledge about the modern social proceses. The above paradox is used as a point of departure of the study of the links between complexity of society in the past and at present, and occurrence of large scale socioeconomic crises (countries, regions, continents, global scale).
    [Show full text]
  • Social Ecology and Communalism
    Murray Bookchin Bookchin Murray $ 12,95 / £ xx,xx Social Ecology and Communalism Replace this text Murray Bookchin ocial cology Social Ecology and Communalism and Communalism Social Ecology S E and Communalism AK Press Social Ecology and Communalism Murray Bookchin Social Ecology and Communalism Bookchin, Murray Social Ecology and Communalism Library of Congress Control Number 2006933557 ISBN 978-1-904859-49-9 Published by AK Press © Eirik Eiglad and Murray Bookchin 2006 AK Press 674–A 23rd St. Oakland, CA 94612 USA www.akpress.org [email protected] AK Press UK PO Box 12766 Edinburgh, EH8 9YE Scotland (0131) 555–5165 www.akuk.com [email protected] Design and layout by Eirik Eiglad Contents An Introduction to Social Ecology and Communalism 7 What is Social Ecology? 19 Radical Politics in an Era of Advanced Capitalism 53 The Role of Social Ecology in a Period of Reaction 68 The Communalist Project 77 After Murray Bookchin 117 An Introduction to Social Ecology and Communalism We are standing at a crucial crossroads. Not only does the age- old “social question” concerning the exploitation of human labor remain unresolved, but the plundering of natural resources has reached a point where humanity is also forced to politically deal with an “ecological question.” Today, we have to make conscious choices about what direction society should take, to properly meet these challenges. At the same time, we see that our very ability to make the necessary choices are being undermined by an incessant centralization of economic and political power. Not only is there a process of centralization in most modern nation states that divests humanity of any control over social affairs, but power is also gradually being transferred to transnational institutions.
    [Show full text]
  • Harbinger, a Journal of Social Ecology
    a journal of social ecology Harbinger What is Social Ecology? VOL. 3, NO. 1 SPRING 2003 Harbinger - SPRING 2003 { 1 } Harbinger, a Journal of Social Ecology, publishes analysis relevant to the growing social ecology movement and news of the activities of the Institute for Social Ecology (ISE). It is our intention to explore the theory and practice needed to help create an ecological society, and to cultivate a generous intellectual outlook that can inform the principle of hope. Just as the outlook proposed by social ecology is concerned with both what is and what ought to be, so too is Harbinger and we will explore the tensions between the two. The central questions we address in the pages of Harbinger regard the process with which we must engage to create an ecological society, a society free of hierarchy and domination in all of its forms. A harbinger is a messenger, or a sign indicating that a major event or change is coming. It was the name given to the journal published by Emerson, the Alcotts, Thoreau and other New England transcendentalists associated with Brook Farm in the 19th century. The name was revived in the early 1980s by the ISE for our literary and philosophical journal. In its current incarnation Harbinger will continue the tradition of critically examining theory and practice, attempt to bring you stimulating work by talented authors, and, in addition, update you on the important work of the ISE. Our intention is to publish twice a year and we invite your comments and contributions. While Harbinger will entertain many points of view, our primary focus will be on a clarification and expansion of those ideas and practices that contribute to social ecology.
    [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]
  • Takis Fotopoulos[1]
    Social Ecology, Eco- Communitarianism and Inclusive Democracy Takis Fotopoulos[1] Social Ecology and Inclusive Democracy John Clark’s critique of the politics of social ecology has no direct bearing on the Inclusive Democracy project ―only to the extent that the latter constitutes a synthesis of, among other traditions, some elements of libertarian municipalism. Readers of this journal are, anyway, well aware of the fact that the project of inclusive democracy represents a synthesis as well as a transcendence of the two major historical traditions, the socialist and the democratic ones, as well as of the radical currents in the new social movements (the open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com feminist and particularly the ecological, of which social ecology is the most important radical component). Therefore, John Clark’s exclusive reliance on Murray Bookchin’s work on democracy in order to carry out an outright attack against direct democracy, ignoring, in the process, the work of Castoriadis and of this journal on the matter, seems —superficially at least— to be bizarre. However, this significant omission could easily be explained if one notes that what is from Clark’s viewpoint ‘one of the greatest strengths of Bookchin's politics’, is also, from a democratic perspective, the greatest weakness of this politics. Thus, according to Clark: One of the greatest strengths of Bookchin's politics is its grounding in ethics and the philosophy of nature (...) For Bookchin, politics is ultimately grounded in the process of evolutionary unfolding and self- realisation that has been taking place over the natural and social history of this planet.
    [Show full text]
  • Complexity Theory and Conflict Transformation
    Centre for Conflict Resolution Working Paper 17 Department of Peace Studies Complexity Theory and Conflict Transformation: An Exploration of Potential and Implications Diane Hendrick June 2009 Other titles in this Series International Conflict Resolution: Some Critiques and a Response Tom Woodhouse, June 1999 Working Paper 1 The Failure of State Formation, Identity Conflict and Civil Society Responses - The Case of Sri Lanka Sunil Bastian, September 1999 Working Paper 2 International Non-Government Organisations and Peacebuilding - Perspectives from Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution Nick Lewer, October 1999 Working Paper 3 From Conflict Resolution to Transformative Peacebuilding: Reflections from Croatia A. B. Fetherston, April 2000 Working Paper Women, Gender and Peacebuilding Donna Pankhurst, August 2000 Working Paper 5 Psychological 'Conflict Mapping' in Bosnia & Hercegovina: Case Study, Critique and the Renegotiation of Theory Steve Gillard, October 2000 Working Paper 6 Confronting Ethnic Chauvinism in a Post-War Environment: NGOs and Peace Education in Bosnia Laura Stovel, December 2000 Working Paper 7 Developing an Online Learning Pedagogy for Conflict Resolution Training Laina K. Reynolds & Lambrecht Wessels, May 2001 Working Paper 8 Citizenship Education or Crowd Control? The Crick Report and the Role of Peace Education and Conflict Resolution in the New Citizenship Curriculum Catherine Larkin, July 2001 Working Paper 9 "All You Need is Love"... and What About Gender? Engendering Burton's Human Needs Theory Cordula Reimann, January 2002 Working Paper 10 Operationalising Peacebuilding and Conflict Reduction. Case Study: Oxfam in Sri Lanka Simon Harris and Nick Lewer, August 2002 Working Paper 11 Community Peace Work in Sri Lanka: A Critical Appraisal Dileepa Witharana, October 2002 Working Paper 12 NGOs and Peacebuilding in Kosovo Monica Llamazares and Laina Reynolds Levy, December 2003 Working Paper 13 Post-War Peacebuilding Reviewed.
    [Show full text]
  • ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: for the END IS a LIMIT
    ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: FOR THE END IS A LIMIT: THE QUESTION CONCERNING THE ENVIRONMENT Ozguc Orhan, Doctor of Philosophy, 2007 Dissertation Directed By: Professor Charles E. Butterworth Department of Government and Politics Professor Ken Conca Department of Government and Politics This dissertation argues that Aristotle’s philosophy of praxis (i.e., ethics and politics) can contribute to our understanding of the contemporary question concerning the environment. Thinking seriously about the environment today calls for resisting the temptation to jump to conclusions about Aristotle’s irrelevance to the environment on historicist grounds of incommensurability or the fact that Aristotle did not write specifically on environmental issues as we know them. It is true that environmental problems are basically twentieth-century phenomena, but the larger normative discourses in which the terms “environmental” and “ecological” and their cognates are situated should be approached philosophically, namely, as cross-cultural and trans-historical phenomena that touch human experience at a deeper level. The philosophical perspective exploring the discursive meaning behind contemporary environmental praxis can reveal to us that certain aspects of Aristotle’s thought are relevant, or can be adapted, to the ends of environmentalists concerned with developmental problems. I argue that Aristotle’s views are already accepted and adopted in political theory and the praxis of the environment in many respects. In the first half of the dissertation, I
    [Show full text]
  • Language Is a Complex Adaptive System: Position Paper
    Language Learning ISSN 0023-8333 Language Is a Complex Adaptive System: Position Paper The “Five Graces Group” Clay Beckner Nick C. Ellis University of New Mexico University of Michigan Richard Blythe John Holland University of Edinburgh Santa Fe Institute; University of Michigan Joan Bybee Jinyun Ke University of New Mexico University of Michigan Morten H. Christiansen Diane Larsen-Freeman Cornell University University of Michigan William Croft Tom Schoenemann University of New Mexico Indiana University Language has a fundamentally social function. Processes of human interaction along with domain-general cognitive processes shape the structure and knowledge of lan- guage. Recent research in the cognitive sciences has demonstrated that patterns of use strongly affect how language is acquired, is used, and changes. These processes are not independent of one another but are facets of the same complex adaptive system (CAS). Language as a CAS involves the following key features: The system consists of multiple agents (the speakers in the speech community) interacting with one another. This paper, our agreed position statement, was circulated to invited participants before a conference celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Language Learning, held at the University of Michigan, on the theme Language is a Complex Adaptive System. Presenters were asked to focus on the issues presented here when considering their particular areas of language in the conference and in their articles in this special issue of Language Learning. The evolution of this piece was made possible by the Sante Fe Institute (SFI) though its sponsorship of the “Continued Study of Language Acquisition and Evolution” workgroup meeting, Santa Fe Institute, 1–3 March 2007.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Ecology and the Non-Western World
    Speech delivered at the conference “Challenging Capitalist Modernity II: Dissecting Capitalist Modernity–Building Democratic Confederalism”, 3–5 April 2015, Hamburg. Texts of the conference are published at http://networkaq.net/2015/speeches 2.5 Federico Venturini Social Ecology and the non-Western World Murray Bookchin was the founder of the social ecology, a philosophical perspective whose political project is called libertarian municipalism or Communalism. Recently there has been a revival of interest in this project, due to its influence on the socio-political organization in Rojava, a Kurdish self-managed region in the Syrian state. This should not be a surprise because Bookchin's works influenced Abdul Öcalan for a more than a decade, a key Kurdish leader who developed a political project called Democratic Confederalism. We should all welcome this renewed interest in social ecology and take lessons from the Rojava experience. Bookchin's analyses have always been more focussed on North-American or European experiences and so libertarian municipalism draws from these traditions. Moreover, Bookchin, who was writing in a Cold war scenario, was suspicious of the limits of national movements struggling for independence. The aim of this paper is to develop and enlarge Bookchin's analysis, including experiences and traditions from different cultures and movements, and their interrelations on a global scale. First, it explores social ecology perspective in non- Western contexts. Second, it will introduce new tools to deal with inter-national relations based on world system theory. Third, it will suggests that new experiences coming from non-Western regions can strength social ecology understanding and practices.
    [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]
  • The Emergence of Animal Social Complexity
    The Emergence of Animal Social Complexity: theoretical and biobehavioral evidence Bradly Alicea Orthogonal Research (http://orthogonal-research.tumblr.com) Keywords: Social Complexity, Sociogenomics, Neuroendocrinology, Metastability AbstractAbstract ThisThis paper paper will will introduce introduce a a theorytheory ofof emergentemergent animalanimal socialsocial complexitycomplexity usingusing variousvarious results results from from computational computational models models andand empiricalempirical resultsresults.. TheseThese resultsresults willwill bebe organizedorganized into into a avertical vertical model model of of socialsocial complexity.complexity. ThisThis willwill supportsupport thethe perspperspectiveective thatthat social social complexity complexity is isin in essence essence an an emergent emergent phenomenon phenomenon while while helping helping to answerto answer of analysistwo interrelated larger than questions. the individual The first organism.of these involves The second how behavior involves is placingintegrated aggregate at units socialof analysis events larger into thethan context the individual of processes organism. occurring The secondwithin involvesindividual placing organi aggregatesms over timesocial (e.g. events genomic into the and context physiological of processes processes) occurring. withinBy using individual a complex organisms systems over perspective,time (e.g. fivegenomic principles and physiologicalof social complexity processes). can Bybe identified.using a complexThese principles systems
    [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]