Niklas Luhmann Quotes
Niklas Luhmann was a German sociologist and one of the leading systems theorists of the twentieth century. Trained as a lawyer and trained further in the United States under Talcott Parsons, he held a chair at Bielefeld for most of his career, where he produced an enormous theoretical corpus, the centerpiece of which is the two-volume Social Systems and the late synthesis Theory of Society. The quotes below are attributed to Niklas Luhmann, organized by topic.
Browse Niklas Luhmann by topic
Niklas Luhmann on Death
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“Die folgenden Untersuchungen wagen diesen Übergang zu einem radikal antihumanistischen, einem radikal antiregionalistischen und einem radikal konstruktivistischen Gesellschaftsbegriff.”
The following investigations attempt this transition to a radically anti-humanist, a radically anti-regionalist and a radically constructivist concept of society. | p. 35
Niklas Luhmann on Knowledge
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“Humans cannot communicate ; not even their brains can communicate; not even their conscious minds can communicate. Only communication can communicate.”
Luhmann (1988) "How can the mind participate in communication" In: Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht et all. (Ed.) Materialities of Communication . p. 371 ( link ). -
“Does knowledge rest on construction in the sense that it only functions because the knowing system is operatively closed, therefore: because it can maintain no operative contact with the outside world; and because it therefore remains dependent, for everything that it constructs, on its own distinction between self-reference and allo-reference?”
Luhmann (1991) “Wie lassen sich latente Strukturen beobachten?,” in Paul Watzlawick , Peter Krieg (eds.), Das Auge des Betrachters: Beiträge zum Konstruktivismus. Festschrift für Heinz von Foerster , Piper, München-Zürich, p. 71; cited in: Heinz von Foerster (1993) " For Niklas Luhmann: “How Recursive is Communication?” ". Translated by Richard Howe. -
“Luhmann (1991) “Wie lassen sich latente Strukturen beobachten?,” in Paul Watzlawick , Peter Krieg (eds.), Das Auge des Betrachters: Beiträge zum Konstruktivismus. Festschrift für Heinz von Foerster , Piper, München-Zürich, p. 71; cited in: Heinz von Foerster (1993) " For Niklas Luhmann: “How Recursive is Communication?” ". Translated by Richard Howe.”
Does knowledge rest on construction in the sense that it only functions because the knowing system is operatively closed, therefore: because it can maintain no operative contact with the outside world; and because it therefore remains dependent, for everything that it constructs, on its own distinction between self-reference and allo-reference? -
“It had always been clear to me that a thoroughly constructed conceptual theory of society would be much more radical and much more discomforting in its effects than narrowly focused criticisms—criticisms of capitalism for instance— could ever imagine.”
Protest . Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp,1996. p. 200 -
“Protest . Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp,1996. p. 200”
It had always been clear to me that a thoroughly constructed conceptual theory of society would be much more radical and much more discomforting in its effects than narrowly focused criticisms—criticisms of capitalism for instance— could ever imagine. -
“The following investigations attempt this transition to a radically anti-humanist, a radically anti-regionalist and a radically constructivist concept of society.”
Die folgenden Untersuchungen wagen diesen Übergang zu einem radikal antihumanistischen, einem radikal antiregionalistischen und einem radikal konstruktivistischen Gesellschaftsbegriff. -
“Whatever we know about society, or indeed about the world in which we live, we know through the mass media. This is true not only of our knowledge of society but also of our knowledge of nature.”
The reality of the Mass Media(2000) | p. 1. -
“The effect if not the function of the mass media seems to lie, therefore, in the reproduction of non- transparency through transparency, in the reproduction of non-transparency of effects through transparency of knowledge .”
The reality of the Mass Media(2000) | p. 103.
Niklas Luhmann on Mind
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Attributed to Niklas Luhmann:
“Self-reference is the operating principle of social systems.”
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“Luhmann (1988) "How can the mind participate in communication" In: Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht et all. (Ed.) Materialities of Communication . p. 371 ( link ).”
Humans cannot communicate ; not even their brains can communicate; not even their conscious minds can communicate. Only communication can communicate.
Niklas Luhmann on Nature
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“No matter how abstractly formulated are a general theory of systems, a general theory of evolution and a general theory of communication, all three theoretical components are necessary for the specifically sociological theory of society . They are mutually interdependent.”
Luhmann (1982) The Differentiation of Society , Translated by Stephen Holmes and Charles Larmore. Columbia University Press, New York, 1982, pp. 261. Cited in: Loet Leydesdorff (2000) " Luhmann, Habermas, and the Theory of Communication ".
Niklas Luhmann on Politics
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Attributed to Niklas Luhmann:
“Society consists of communications, not of human beings.”
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Attributed to Niklas Luhmann:
“Systems reduce complexity by selecting from their environment.”
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Attributed to Niklas Luhmann:
“Trust is a strategy for the reduction of complexity.”
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Attributed to Niklas Luhmann:
“Modern society is functionally differentiated.”