Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems: the postmodern character of society’s descriptors

Abstract

The article carried out a comparative analysis of the basic provisions of the theory of social systems by N. Luhmann and the principles of the philosophy of postmodernism. Considering the categorical apparatus of N. Luhmann’s concept, the author finds points of semantic intersection with a number of key concepts of modern social philosophy, as well as mutual resonation of basic principles. The article proves that the comparison of the theory of social systems by N. Luhmann and the philosophy of postmodernism can be carried out according to several criteria: subjective (general scope of research), historical (common time and context of occurrence) and meaningful (when the perspective of consideration is shifted, it becomes possible to identify semantic parallels named theories). Thus, the article draws a parallel between N. Luhmann’s subjectless sociology and the postmodern concept of the absent subject. In accordance with the theory of social systems by N. Luhmann, the subject is non-communicative by definition. In the conceptual apparatus of the philosophy of postmodernism, a meaningfully similar rejection of the interpretation of the subject in its classical sense is fundamental. A meaningful connection between the concept of binary truth by N. Luhmann, on the one hand, and the subjectivist theory of truth in postmodernism, on the other hand, is revealed. Thus, the truth in the context of N. Luhmann’s social system depends on its relevance for the individual, fitting into the system of knowledge that is significant for him at the moment, the truth is modeled in a non-static context and can be re-evaluated in a subjective way, depending on the shift in the focus of the relevance of one or another fragment of knowledge of the individual. Similarly, in postmodern philosophy there is a subjectivisation of truth, which turns out to be a variable not only in the socio-cultural frame of reference, but also in the frame of reference of the individual. Thus, the article proves that there are semantic parallels in the theory of social systems of N. Luhmann and postmodern philosophy, which allow us to say that, independently of each other, N. Luhmann, on the one hand, and postmodern authors, on the other, develop a new vision of cognitive processes within the post-non-classical type of rationality.