L’union des deux thèmes hétérogènes « capitalisme » et « utopie », provient d’une description des conséquences d’une différenciation fonctionnelle du système de la société. Si par « capitalisme » on entend la description d’une société possédant un système économique différencié et autonome quant à ses opérations, la question est de savoir comment le système politique peut coexister à côté de lui. Par l’utopie. L’utopie politique, qui permet d’assurer la coexistence des deux systèmes, se nomme « économie sociale de marché (...) ». Mais cette utopie n’est plus définie comme modèle idéal permettant une critique de la société actuelle, c’est une composante de l’autodescription du système, une forme de réplication, dans le système politique lui-même, du caractère non maîtrisable de la société. (shrink)

This article represents the review of the Russian translation of N. Lumann’s work which was published under the title «Truth, knowledge, science as a system». In article N. Lumann’s approach to consideration of science as one of the communicative systems of society performing function on development of knowledge is reconstructed. Within this approach we consider in a separate way the the truthconditional perspective which is expressed by means of terms of language of the theory symbolically the generalized of media of (...) communications. Special attention is paid to the potential of the reconstructed theory in the analysis of modern scientific community and to the relation of scientific system to other communicative systems (its differentiation from them and the possibility of interaction). (shrink)

니클라스 루만의 방대한 이론적 작업은 ‘체계이론’과 ‘사회이론’으로 요약될 수 있다. 이 논문은 이 두 이론들 중 내가 루만에게 더 중요한 이론이었다고 판단하는 사회이론의 연구계획이 어떻게 수립되었고 어떤 변경 과정을 거쳤는지 살펴본다. 특히 연구 초기인 1975년에 작성된 원고로 2017년에야 출간된 『사회의 체계이론』과 1997년에 출간된 사회이론의 최종 저작 『사회의 사회』를 비교하는 국내 최초의 작업을 수행하였다. 초기에 루만은 자신의 사회이론 연구계획을 주로 일반 체계이론의 수용을 통해 달성하고자 하였다. 즉 ‘사회의 체계 이론’을 정립하려 하였다. 하지만 그 진행 과정에서 매체이론과 진화이론 등 다른 일반 이론들의 (...) 비중이 커지면서 체계이론은 다소 상대화되었고, 그것은 사회이론 저서의 제목이 ‘사회의 사회’로 변경되는 데 영향을 미쳤다. 그리고 이제 만약 우리가 사회 개념을 체계이론 중심으로 사고하지 않는다면, 그러한 상대화는 더 진척될 수 있다. 이 논문의 마지막 부분에서 나는 이러한 체계이론의 상대화를 다소 급진적으로 밀어붙이면서 사회를 체계로 간주하지 않는 사회이론의 가능성을 검토하였다. (shrink)

O presente trabalho está amparado na hipótese segundo a qual os conceitos de comunicação, informação e intersubjetividade constituem divisores de águas entre as teorias de Niklas Luhmann e Jürgen Habermas. Mesmo assim, e, inclusive, devido à distância que separa os dois projetos teóricos, eles podem ser tomados como perspectivas teóricas extremamente úteis para uma melhor compreensão do homem e da sua sociedade.

"Ethical Leadership" in modern multicultural corporations is first the consideration of different personal and cultural value systems in decision-making processes. Second, it is the assignment of responsibility either to individual or organisational causalities. The task of this study is to set the stage for a distinction between rational entities and the arbitrary preferences of individuals in economic decision making processes.Defining rational aspects of behaviour in economics will lead to the formal structures of organisational systems, which are independent of concrete but (...) varying values. Luhmann''s Theory of systems of communication describes the internal dynamic forces of economic communication processes in terms of formal structures. On the other hand Habermas'' Theory of discourse integrates the previous relationship between individual subjectivity and rational behaviour. Habermas gives an indication of how to separate subjective values and meaning from rational arguments in rational communication processes. The translation of these theoretical structures into practical applications for decision making processes and decision taking acts links the ethical, or value-oriented, context precisely to both individual and organisational areas of responsibility. (shrink)

Germany's leading contemporary social theorist provides a definitive analysis of art as a social and perceptual system which not only represents an important intellectual step in discussions of art but also an important advance in systems theory. Luhmann insists on the radical incommensurability between psychic systems (perception) and social systems (communication). Art is a special kind of communication that operates at the boundary between the social system and consciousness in ways that profoundly irritate communication while remaining strictly internal to (...) the social. Each chapter elaborates a particular aspect of the general problem of art's status as a social system. The book draws on a vast body of research in the social sciences, phenomenology, evolutionary biology, cybernetics, and information theory, combined with an intimate knowledge of art history, literature, aesthetics, and contemporary literary theory. The book also engages virtually every major theorist of art and aesthetics from Baumgarten to Derrida. (shrink)

This work represents Niklas Luhmann's definitive application of systems theory to the understanding of law. In it Luhmann reviews past attempts to create a theory of law and argues they all fail to capture how law operates in modern society. He presents an alternative, critical theory through analysing law as a system of communication.

Niklas Luhmann is widely recognized as one of the most original thinkers in the social sciences today. This major new work further develops the theories of the author by offering a challenging analysis of the relationship between society and the environment. Luhmann extends the concept of "ecology" to refer to any analysis that looks at connections between social systems and the surrounding environment. He traces the development of the notion of "environment" from the medieval idea--which encompasses both human (...) and natural systems--to our modern definition, which separates social systems from the external environment. In Luhmann's thought, human beings form part of the environment, while social systems consist only of communications. Utilizing this distinctive theoretical perspective, Luhmann presents a comprehensive catalog of society's reactions to environmental problems. He investigates the spheres of the economy, law, science, politics, religion, and education to show how these areas relate to environmental issues. Ecological Communication is an important work that critically examines claims central to our society--claims to modernity and rationality. It will be of great importance to scholars and students in sociology, political science, philosophy, anthropology, and law. (shrink)

In this volume, Niklas Luhmann, the leading exponent of systems theory, explores its implications for our understanding of law. The volume provides a rigorous application to law of a theory that offers profound insights into the relationships between law and other aspects of contemporary society, including politics, the economy, the media, education, and religion.Readership: Academics and students of sociology, law, philosophy, and legal philosophy.

This collection of five essays by Germany’s most prominent and influential social thinker both links Luhmann’s social theory to the question “What is modern about modernity?” and shows the origins and context of his theory. In the introductory essay, “Modernity in Contemporary Society,” Luhmann develops the thesis that the modern epistemological situation can be seen as the consequence of a radical change in social macrostructures that he calls “social differentiation,” thereby designating the juxtaposition of and interaction between a (...) growing number of social subsystems without any hierarchical structure. “European Rationality” defines rationality as the capacity to see the difference between systems and their environment as a unity. Luhmann argues that, in a world characterized by contingency, rationality tends to become coextensive with imagination, a view that challenges their classical binary opposition and opens up the possibility of seeing modern rationality as a paradox. In the third essay, “Contingency as Modern Society’s Defining Attribute,” Luhmann develops a further and probably even more important paradox: that the generalization of contingency or cognitive uncertainty is precisely what provides stability within modern societies. In the process, he argues that medieval and early modern theology can be seen as a “preadaptive advance” through which Western thinking prepared itself for the modern epistemological situation. In “Describing the Future,” Luhmann claims that neither the traditional hope of learning from history nor the complementary hope of cognitively anticipating the future can be maintained, and that the classical concept of the future should be replaced by the notion of risk, defined as juxtaposing the expectation of realizing certain projects and the awareness that such projects might fail. The book concludes with “The Ecology of Ignorance,” in which Luhmann outlines prospective research areas “for sponsors who have yet to be identified.”. (shrink)

Trotz Luhmanns und Bourdieus Grundlagenwerke hat die Soziologie die empirische Erforschung und theoretische Analyse der Kunst weitgehend vernachlässigt. Ein soziologisch fundierter aktueller Aufriss des Kunstsystems liegt nicht vor. Einen Versuch dazu unternimmt Müller-Jentsch mit dieser Publikation, die fokussiert auf die soziologischen Begriffe von Organisation, Profession und Strategie Beiträge zu einer empirisch gerichteten Soziologie des Kunstsystems versammelt.

Translator's Introduction Political Theory in the Welfare State [Politische Theorie im Wohl- fahrtsstaat] was originally published (Olzog, Munich) in. ...

Die Proklamation der "Postmoderne" hatte mindestens ein Verdienst. Sie hat bekannt gemacht, daß die moderne Gesellschaft das Vertrauen in die Richtigkeit ihrer eige nen Selbstbeschreibungen verloren hat. Auch sie sind jeweils anders möglich. Auch sie sind kontingent gewor den. Wie in der risikoreichen Welt des New Yorker U-Bahn-Netzes drängen sich jetzt die, die darüber reden wollen, an dafür bestimmten Plätzen unter heller Be leuchtung und bei laufenden Fernsehkameras zusammen. Es scheint ums intellektuelle Überleben zu gehen. Aber offenbar nur darum. Und (...) währenddessen geschieht, was geschieht, und die Gesellschaft evoluiert im Ausgang von dem, was erreicht ist, in eine unbekannte Zukunft. Vielleicht hatte das Stichwort der Postmoderne nur eine andere, variantenreichere Beschreibung der Moder ne versprechen wollen, die ihre eigene Einheit nur noch negativ vorstellen kann als Unmöglichkeit eines meta recit. Aber das ließe dann möglicherweise zu viel zu angesichts zahlreicher aktueller Dringlichkeiten, die auf fallen. Wir mögen gern konzedieren, daß es keine ver bindliche Repräsentation der Gesellschaft in der Gesell schaft gibt. Aber das wäre dann nicht das Ende, sondern der Beginn einer Reflexion der Form von Selbstbeob achtungen und Selbstbeschreibungen eines Systems, die im System selbst vorgeschlagen und durchgesetzt werden 7 müssen in einem Prozeß, der seinerseits wieder beob achtet und beschrieben wird. (shrink)

The essays in this volume formulate what is considered to be the preconditions for an adequate theory of modern society. The volume starts with an examination of the modern European philosophical and scientific tradition notably the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl.

Die Abschiedsvorlesung von Niklas Luhmann an der Universität Bielfeld 1993 unter dem Titel: "Was ist der Fall?" und "Was steckt dahinter?" - Die zwei Soziologien und die Gesellschaftstheorie.