Luhmann Explained
From Souls to Systems
Published on 15. April 2011
312 pages
978-0-8126-9751-3 (ISBN)
Description
What are systems? What is society? What happens to human beings in a hypermodern world? 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. Integrating various schools of thought including sociology, philosophy and biology Luhmann Explained results in an overall analysis of "world society". 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.
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Book
09/2006
Open Court Publishing Co ,U.S.
€36.50
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Person
Hans-Georg Moeller resides in Canada and is Associate Professor and Chairman at Brock University (St. Catharines, Ontario), Philosophy Department.
Content
- Intro
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- PART I: A New Way of Thinking about Society
- 1. What Is Social Systems Theory?
- (a) Systems Theory
- (b) Social Systems
- (c) History
- (d) Globalization
- 2. What Is Real?
- (a) Making Sense, Making Reality
- (b) Second-Order Cybernetics
- 3. What Happens to the Human Being?
- (a) Beyond Humanism
- (b) Problems of Identity
- 4. What Can Be Done?
- (a) Limits of Activism and the Conformism of Protest
- (b) Negative Ethics
- (c) Subtle Subversions
- PART II: Mass Media
- 5. The Mass Media as a System
- 6. Beyond Manipulation
- 7. The Reality of the Mass Media
- 8. Individuality and Freedom
- PART III: Philosophical Contexts
- 9. Kant
- 10. Hegel
- 11. Marx
- 12. Husserl
- 13. Habermas
- 14. Postmodernity, Deconstruction, and Techno-Theory
- 15. Conclusion: From Metanarrative to Supertheory
- Notes
- References
- Glossary of Key Terms
- APPENDIXES: Translations of Key Luhmann Texts
- Appendix A: From The Society of Society
- Appendix B: Cognition as Construction
- Appendix C: Beyond Barbarism
- Luhmann Bibliography
- 1. Works by Luhmann in English
- (a) BOOKS
- (b) ARTICLES
- 2. Works on Luhmann in English
- 3. An Annotated List of German Manualsfor Luhmann Studies
- (a) DICTIONARIES
- (b) INTRODUCTIONS
- (c) LUHMANN'S INFLUENCE IN OTHER FIELDS
- (d) BIBLIOGRAPHIES
- Index
