Selforganization

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

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2. Selforganization — the Convergence of Ideas An Introduction

   1. Selforganization — the Convergence of Ideas An Introduction

      • Wolfgang Krohn, Günter Küppers, Helga Nowotny

      Pages 1-10

3. Epistemological Foundations

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11

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   2. Science and Daily Life: The Ontology of Scientific Explanations

      • Humberto R. Maturana

      Pages 12-35

   3. Self-Organization, Emergent Properties and the Unity of the World

      • Gerhard Roth, Helmut Schwegler

      Pages 36-50

   4. On a Fundamental Paradigm Shift in the Natural Sciences

      • Bernd-Olaf Küppers

      Pages 51-63

   5. The Cognitive Program of Constructivism and a Reality that Remains Unknown

      • Niklas Luhmann

      Pages 64-85

4. Selfreference and Selfregulation in Social Systems

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 86-86

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   2. How the Law Thinks: Toward a Constructivist Epistemology of Law

      • Gunther Teubner

      Pages 87-113

   3. Self-Regulation in Social Systems

      • Peter M. Hejl

      Pages 114-127

   4. Systemic Therapy A Particular Drift between Systems Theory and Psychotherapy

      • Kurt Ludewig

      Pages 128-142

   5. Literary Systems as Self-Organizing Systems

      • Siegfried J. Schmidt

      Pages 143-153

   6. Chekhov’s Letter: Linguistic System and its Discontents

      • Christopher S. Braider

      Pages 154-168

5. The Appearance of Structure

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 169-169

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   2. Concepts of Self-Organization in the 19th Century

      • Michael Heidelberger

      Pages 170-180

   3. Cognitive Systems as Self-Organizing Systems

      • Michael Stadler, Peter Kruse

      Pages 181-193

6. The Selforganization of Science

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 194-194

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   2. Self-Organization and Autopoiesis in the Development of Modern Science

      • Rudolf Stichweh

      Pages 195-207

   3. Science as a Self-Organizing System Outline of a Theoretical Model

      • Wolfgang Krohn, Günter Küppers

      Pages 208-222

   4. Actor-Networks vs. Science as a Self-Organizing System: A Comparative View of Two Constructivist Approaches

      • Helga Nowotny

      Pages 223-239

may be complex without being able to be replaced by something »still more simple«. This became evident with the help of computer models of deterministic-recursive systems in which simple mathematical equation systems provide an extremely complex behavior. (2) Irregularity of nature is not treated as an anomaly but becomes the focus of research and thus is declared to be normal. One looks for regularity within irregularity. Non-equilibrium processes are recognized as the source of order and the search for equilibrium is replaced by the search for the dynamics of processes. (3) The classical system-environment model, according to which the adaptation of a system to its environment is controlled externally and according to which the adaptation of the system occurs in the course of a learning process, is replaced by a model of systemic closure. This closure is operational in so far as the effects produced by the system are the causes for the maintenance of systemic organization. If there is sufficient complexity, the systems perform internal self-observation and exert self-control (»Cognition« as understood by Maturana as self-perception and self-limitation, e. g. , that of a cell vis-a. -vis its environment). 22 But any information a system provides on its environment is a system-internal construct. The »reference to the other« is merely a special case of »self-reference«. The social sciences frequently have suffered from the careless way in which scientific ideas and models have been transferred.

• Evolution
• Nation
• epistemology
• system
• systems theory

• University of Bielefeld, Germany

  Wolfgang Krohn, Günter Küppers

• University of Vienna, Austria

  Helga Nowotny

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