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Topic: Niklas Luhmann

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	Niklas Luhmann - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Luhmann is probably best-known to North Americans for his debate with the critical theorist Jürgen Habermas over the potential of social systems theory.
		Luhmann himself described his theory as "labyrinth-like" or "non-linear", and claimed he was deliberately keeping his prose enigmatic to prevent it from being understood "too quickly", which would only produce simplistic misunderstandings.
		Luhmann was devoted to the ideal of non-normative science introduced to sociology in the early 20th century by Max Weber and later re-defined and defended against its critics by Karl Popper.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Niklas_Luhmann (1361 words)

	Radical Philosophy - print friendly
		Niklas Luhmann, who died in 1998 (see Obituary in RP 94), is not widely discussed by social and cultural theorists outside Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Scandinavia and Italy.
		Luhmann's argument, however, is that his critics are wrong: this theory is not another attempt at a nerdy putsch by technocratic imperialists, but an investigation of communication rather than agents and actions.
		Luhmann's sense of `the social system' - and certainly of art as a social system* - is explained at a high level of abstraction in sometimes relentlessly technical language.
	www.radicalphilosophy.com /print.asp?editorial_id=9882 (717 words)

	Form and Medium: A Mathematical Reconstruction, by Michael Schiltz
		Luhmann simply observes the epistemological premises of the calculus of indications scrupulously when deciding that the distinction between form and medium, as it is a distinction and thus a difference, should in itself be regarded as a form (cf.
		For Niklas Luhmann, the problem is to describe selfreferentially operating social systems, consisting of operations which take their own results as a base for further operations.
		For Niklas Luhmann, presenting a theory of social systems, this mathematical conclusion is expressed as the autology of the distinction between form and medium: form/medium is a distinction, thus form.
	www.imageandnarrative.be /mediumtheory/michaelschiltz.htm (10223 words)

	Radical Philosophy - Obituaries/Profiles - March/April 1999
		For Niklas Luhmann, the great German sociologist and metaphysician who recently died at the age of 70, after a protracted period of sickness, paradise probably looks more like an endless filing cabinet.
		Not that Luhmann writes jargon (a la Habermas) or long and complicated sentences (a la Bourdieu), but his theory is pitched at such a high level of abstraction and reflexivity that it is often hard to see its relevance, even for those who are used to more metaphysical bedtime reading.
		Moreover, Luhmann draws on a multiplicity of transdisciplinary traditions, such as general systems theory (Bertalanffy), second-order cybernetics (Von Foerster), modular theory of logic (Spencer Brown) and constructivist theories of knowledge (Maturana and Varela), with which sociologists and philosophers are usually not well acquainted.
	www.radicalphilosophy.com /?channel_id=2191&editorial_id=9840 (1200 words)

	[No title]
		Niklas Luhmann’s General Systems Theory Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998) addressed the problems of structural-functionalism by focusing on self-reference and contingency (i.e., the fact that things could have developed differently) in systems.
		The latter form of differentiation, according to Luhmann, is the most complex and problematic for modern society, since it means that problems are often displaced from the level of society to one of its subsystems (e.g., the problem of ecology).
		In Luhmann’s view, knowledge of society may be gained through the observation of the relationship between a society and its semantics, or the way in which a society describes itself.
	highered.mcgraw-hill.com /sites/dl/free/0072825782/112405/ST09_MST05_Sum_Systems.doc (843 words)

	seminar.net - Lars Qvortrup: Society’s Educational System
		Luhmann's analysis of the educational system of contemporary society is put into the context of his total oeuvre; and is related to the situation and function of education in our modern, “hypercomplex“ society.
		Luhmann’s project was a colossal 30-year research project, and also when he wrote 350 pages on the economic system or 580 pages on the legal system, the goal was to prove a general hypothesis, that across the numerous different function systems certain formal similarities exist.
		Luhmann’s descriptions of social function systems, therefore, are based on a background that is, concurrently, strongly directed by theory and with a strong empirical orientation.
	www.seminar.net /index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36&Itemid=1 (9432 words)

	generic review page
		Thus Luhmann is both the successor to the great social theorists of the early twentieth century, Max Weber and Émile Durkheim, and also a characteristically late modern thinker whose project consistently emphasizes difference, contingency, improbability, and relation (rather than substance) as constitutional.
		Luhmann's fusion of social theory with the notion of autopoiesis (in which events, rather than matter, constitute the elements of a system) has produced a powerfully complex understanding of the layering and interdependencies among systems—an understanding whose social or political implications we have not yet fully grasped.
		Luhmann teaches us, perhaps more effectively than any other theorist, that one of the paradoxes of the social is that the closure of autopoiesis increases dependencies (see 314, for example), just as boundaries mark the couplings between systems (see § 1, sec.
	www.natcom.org /pubs/ROC/one-one/January2002/eiseleinOnluhmann.htm (1448 words)

	[No title] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Luhmann's discussion on the societal system is rather vague, but the general idea can be inferred from his analysis of more specific topics: Societal systems use highly generalized communication codes, such as money and power, to reduce the complexity of the environment.
		LUHMANN'S CONCEPTION OF SOCIAL EVOLUTION Because Luhmann's substantive discussions are cast into an evolutionary framework, it is wise to begin by extracting from his diverse writings the key elements of this evolutionary approach.
		Luhmann's alternative to these evolutionary models is to use his systems theory to redirect the analysis of social differentiation.
	instructional1.calstatela.edu /bberk/Soc414/TurnerCh4.doc (4099 words)

	Stefan Arteni/ Painting Calligraphy
		Niklas Luhmann speaks of script as an effort at the “transposition of speech into an optical medium”, and consequently as a secondary communication medium.
		Luhmann has shown that it is actually impossible to exactly transpose oral communication in the form of a written text.
		Niklas Luhmann notes that “it is true that the second-order observer, too, is tied to his own blind spot…his a priori, as it were”.
	www.stefanarteni.net /writings/Painting_Calligraphy/Painting_Calligraphy.html (4268 words)

	The Boundaries of Abortion Law (by Mathieu Deflem)
		Luhmann describes the resulting state of modern subsystems with the term autopoiesis (Luhmann 1988b, 1992a), which refers to the fact that social subsystems are differentiated to such an extent that they operate independently from one another.
		Luhmann consequently focuses mostly on the legal system's handling of rule violations or law's counter-factual reaffirmation of norms, that is, court procedures and the role of judges and lawyers (e.g., Luhmann 1988a:20-23, 1989:143).
		Moreover, while Luhmann's perspective suggests that violations of legal norms cannot invalidate those norms, the gap between the criminalization of abortion in the state legislations and the widespread practice of, and growing tolerance towards, abortion was among the factors that contributed to its legalization.
	www.cas.sc.edu /socy/faculty/deflem/zaborsf.htm (15858 words)

	Educational Theory Winter 2000 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Niklas Luhmann was on of the most prolific authors on social theory.
		According to Luhmann, communication is an emergent unity that cannot be reduced to the contribution of the communicating partners.
		Luhmann draws a sharp distinction between social systems and human beings, and stresses the autonomy of social, psychic and organic systems respectively.
	www.ed.uiuc.edu /EPS/educational-theory/Contents/2000_1.asp (869 words)

	Luhmann Explained
		This book is an introduction to Niklas Luhmann's social system theory which explains specific functions like economy and mass media from a cybernetic perspective.
		Special attention is given to the present-day relevance of Luhmann's theory with respect to globalization, electronic mass media, ethics, and new forms of protest.
		In a society that puts so much emphasis on the individual and defines itself as “civil,” Luhmann’s basic claim that, in fact, society does not consist of human beings can be seen as shocking, as going against common sense, or as absurd.
	www.opencourtbooks.com /books_n/luhmann.htm (292 words)

	Theory, Culture & Society - Abstracts: 18(1) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		The first part of the article provides a general introduction to Luhmann's work with an emphasis on the basic elements of Luhmann's general systems theory, in particular Luhmann's notions of autopoiesis and meaning, and the traditions on which it is based.
		Niklas Luhmann and Jacques Derrida start with a common assumption in their analyses of the law and the economy — the foundational paradox of social institutions.
		This article is concerned with Niklas Luhmann's theory of art which he formulated in the 1990s, based on his general theory of autopoietic systems.
	tcs.ntu.ac.uk /tcs/abstracts/18(1).html (1043 words)

	Observations on Modernity - Niklas Luhmann Translated by William Whobrey (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Niklas Luhmann is Professor of Sociology Emeritus at the University of Bielefeld.
		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.
		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.
	www.sup.org /book.cgi?book_id=3234+3235 (262 words)

	Luhmann, Habermas, and the Theory of Communication
		Luhmann suggested resolving this debate by considering the core concept of symbolic interactionism, that is, the interactive construction of social meaning, as the unit of operation of social systems.
		Society, in Luhmann's opinion, should not be considered as a living system: it is the network of interactions between the carriers who perform their respective life-cycles while they are alive (e.g., Luhmann 1986).
		Luhmann has emphatically and repeatedly argued that society does not perform an evolutionary "life"-cycle, since this system is not expected to be alive.[4] When a carrying system dies, its social role can be reattributed at the level of the social system, that is, on the basis of social interactions.
	users.fmg.uva.nl /lleydesdorff/montreal.htm (9058 words)

	Observing Systems
		Luhmann, following George Spencer Brown, defines 'observation' as indication by means of a distinction (Luhmann, 1998: 167ff; Luhmann, 1989: 144).
		Although Luhmann uses autopoiesis theory as one point of departure for his general systems theory, he does not adopt the conception of cognition originally connected with the theory.
		Luhmann (1998: 167) presupposes a concept of cognition as observation based on distinctions and indications, and this allows him to extend the concept of autopoiesis beyond autopoietic living beings.
	plato.acadiau.ca /courses/educ/reid/papers/PME25-WS4/OS.html (1397 words)

	Lund University, Doctoral Dissertation (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		The first is an exposé of Niklas Luhmann?s comprehensive sociological systems theory, including the basic tenets of the theory, its historical development and central concepts, and discussions.
		Within the framework of Luhmann's systems theory, one can discern three primary levels of analysis: the general theory of self-referential and autopoietic systems; the theory of social systems as autopoietic communication systems; and the theory of society as a separate social system.
		One of Luhmann?s many challenging theses is that the sociologist primarily is an observer of observations; another is that social systems operate as autopoietic systems, i.
	www.lub.lu.se /cgi-bin/show_diss.pl/soc_81.html (810 words)

	The Form of Society - Problems of Grand Theories (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		As you may know Luhmann bases any observation of a system upon a paradoxical observation: the system is a system because it is not a system (but an environment).
		Luhmann is making the same mistake as Parsons’ and Habermas have done with their main concepts: semantically overloading ‘communication’ (this holds for Luhmann), ‘action’ (this holds for Parsons) and ‘communicative action’ (this holds for Habermas).
		I think that Luhmann (and others!) is right in pointing out that every identity when observed has a paradoxical form: the system is itself because it uses the distinction of being itself and not being itself in order to distinct itself.
	www.tu-berlin.de /~society/Jokisch_SocialSystems_DistinctionsTheory.htm (3134 words)

	Institute of Strategic Management \| Forschung \| Symposium Luhmann (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Niklas Luhmann was one of the most innovative sociologists of our time.
		Although Luhmann's theory of social systems is almost twenty years old and has been utilised by a number of researchers, there is still much to be explored particularly in the field of organization studies.
		The objective of this symposium is to bring together organization theorists from various backgrounds with an interest in Luhmann's theory to discuss the potential of the theory for organization studies and future directions for development.
	www.suf.bwl.uni-muenchen.de /luhmann-symposium/luhmann.htm (482 words)

	Alibris: Niklas Luhmann
		In THE REALITY OF THE MASS MEDIA, Luhmann extends his theory of social systems applied in his earlier works to the economy, the political system, art, religion, the sciences, and law to an examination of the role of mass media in the construction of social reality.
		This collection of five essays by Germany's most prominent and influential social thinker links Luhmann's social theory to the question "What is modern about modernity?" and shows the origins and context of his theory.
		Niklas Luhmann is widely recognized as one of the most original thinkers in the social sciences today.
	www.alibris.com /search/books/author/Luhmann,Niklas (477 words)

	Fleischmann (2005)--A Model for a Simple Luhmann Economy :: Kerimcan Ozcan :: Science of Consumer Networks (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		The core of this work is the definition of an agent-based model for a simple Luhmann economy based on publications of Niklas Luhmann.
		Solution paths of the Luhmann economy originating from an initial endowment to equilibrium (when the economy settles down) are studied.
		Niklas Luhmann's hypothesis, that the economy starts from and produces further inequality in order to continue (see Luhmann 1988, p.
	kerimcanozcan.com /portal/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=208 (259 words)

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		As Luhmann points out—and he's only drawing on the hermeneutic foundation of contemporary sociology; this is not his own invention—each actor's interpretation is implicated in the Other's actions and vice versa.
		It is easy to confuse terms here: social system as Luhmann uses it is an application of systems theory to societal systems.
		Luhmann's distinction between communication and action leads to a distinction between communication and interaction.
	www.blogger.com /email-post.g?blogID=3554917&postID=113028205426545657 (575 words)

	Niklas Luhmann Biography / Biography of Niklas Luhmann Biography
		A prominent German sociologist, Niklas Luhmann (born 1927) developed a general sociological systems theory, which he applied to a wide range of problems.
		Niklas Luhmann was born on December 8, 1927, in Lüneburg, Germany.
		Each Biography is written by a biographical expert or professional educator and is a complete resource on the individual.
	www.bookrags.com /biography-niklas-luhmann (237 words)

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