2nd order systems theory
System theories are referred to as 2nd order systems theory, which are self-referential in the following sense : The system theorist who makes the theory is described with the respective system theory. The key concept is therefore the observation of the observer . All statements made in 2nd order systems theory are statements about the observer as a system.
Heinz von Foerster , who founded second-order cybernetics, pointed out this second order . The 2nd order systems theory is an epistemological reinterpretation of systems theory , in which it is examined what the systems theorist can theoretically know as a system. The 2nd order systems theory is closely related to radical constructivism . Self-organization played a greater role in the early writings, while much of the later writings spoke of ethics .
In first order systems theory, the content of a black box is examined. In 2nd order systems theory, the observer is the black box that is examined.
Environment (basics and adaptations)
Niklas Luhmann vaguely refers to Heinz von Foerster's and George Spencer-Brown's logics. Luhmann and John Cunningham Lilly have applied the recursive principle of observation of observation in the field of sociological systems theory and in the communication- theoretical field of neurosocial communication patterns.
literature
- Heinz von Foerster , Understanding Systems: Conversations on Epistemology and Ethics , 2002, ISBN 0306467526 .
- Humberto Maturana , Niklas Luhmann, Mikio Namiki, Volker Redder and Francisco Varela : Observer. Convergence of Epistemology? 3rd edition, Fink, Munich 2003. ISBN 3-7705-2829-8 .
- Bernhard Poerksen, The Certainty of Uncertainty , 2004, ISBN 0907845819 .