ABSTRACT
Is it possible to grasp the complexity of the entire social world? How to account for phenomena ranging from the politics of climate change to the ways we address our beloved ones? Is it feasible within one single sociological framework to conceive of anything from modern science and economy to exclusion patterns in Brazilian favelas, and from legal decisions to the way artists communicate? While many would find such a challenge too big, the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann did not find it insurmountable. He developed an exceptionally sophisticated theory of society which was based on a simple severance, namely the distinction between a system and its environment. On the basis of this fundamental separation he set out to seize the complexity of the world, a venture he pursued in around 75 books and 500 articles.
