Social Autopoietic Systems

Niklas Luhmann developed an elaborate theory of social and cognitive systems, which combines Maturana and Varela’s notion of cognition with Husserlian phenomenology (Arnoldi 2006, p. 117). That is, Luhmann developed the idea of autopoiesis of social systems and recognized that this use of autopoiesis could be problematic (Luhmann 1986, p. 172). As humans are central elements of social systems, it follows that, to be considered as an autopoietic system, a social system must be self-reproducing in terms of humans (Bednarz 1988, p. 61). How could this be possible? Luhmann proposed a very intelligent solution to this paradox. He redefined social systems as being realized in a domain of communication. In other words, the constituent elements of a social system are communications. Therefore, the social system is understood as a network of communication that emerges over time (Nassehi 2005, p. 181). Subsequently, the conditions for autopoiesis have to be evaluated in terms of the self-production of communication (Teubner 1991, p. 235). In fact, Luhmann understands communication not as a diffusion of meaning or information from one person to another but as an autopoietic system that appears out of the doubly dependent meeting of subjects (Arnoldi 2006, p. 116). As a corollary, we can consider that Luhmann’s theory is an autopoietic theory of communication (Mingers 2010, p. 158).