“The following considerations assume that
there are systems.”
Niklas Luhmann emphasizes it in Social Systems.
As usual, the class started with a dialogue for discussing and reviewing
the previous class and assignments.
Prof Takashi Iba repeated that the social
itself is not able to be taken apart into any element, because the system is
made up with communication.
Communication consists of three parts,
system, operation and element.
This is key to understand the today’s
central themes, “Autopoiesis and Structure”
Prof. Iba introduces three different
formations of an autopoietic system:
1. Element as
Momentary Event
2. Boundary
Reproduction of the System
3. Element
Constitution based on the System
First of all, elements are momentary events
having no duration, and they disappear as soon as they are realized. Therefore,
the system must produce the elements consecutively in order to keep the system
exist.
Secondly, boundary of the system is
determined by the operations, and the inside of the boundary is called
“system.” Thus, each autopoietic system is operationally closed.
Thirdly, elements are constituted based on
the ongoing system, and a system consists of momentary events. As a result,
autopoietic systems are defined in a circular fashion.
Prof. Iba brought the second point, which
was there are systems, but they can be narrowed down to: there are
self-referential systems.
“What is the difference between autopoiesis
and self-referential?”
That was the critical question the students
came up with.
Prof. Iba explained with N. Luhmann quotes
from Social Systems.”
Additionally, he mentioned that autopoiesis
is more related to time passage, so it is more dynamic than self-reference. On
the other hand, self-reference continues in systems beside time or duration.
At the end of class, students had a pair
discussion about what autopoietic systems are. They seemed to struggle to
answer it since autopoiesis is too abstract.
Later, we are going to have an opportunity to
understand the social systems more deeply with concrete examples related to our
lives and recent society.
◆N. Luhmann, Social Systems, Stanford
University Press, 1996
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