ABSTRACT
Ever since Luhmann published Social Systems his work has been associated with the notion of autopoiesis. The ‘autopoietic turn’ not only had obvious sociological implications for how to conceive of social systems. Luhmann was also interested in the epistemological implications that followed from the new foundation he wanted to give sociology. This interest was visible already in Social Systems , the final chapter of which was concerned with ‘consequences for epistemology’ (1995g: Ch. 12). While this chapter was very brief and could only unpack the implications in a very sketchy manner, the subsequent years showed that Luhmann became increasingly occupied with epistemological issues. Indeed, as mentioned in Chapter 1, I think it is warranted to speak of a third phase in Luhmann’s work which really set off in the late 1980s and which revolved around notions such as observation, distinction, re-entry and paradoxes.
