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On Absence: Society’s Return to Barbarians

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Published/Copyright: May 27, 2016
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Soziale Systeme
From the journal Soziale Systeme Volume 14 Issue 1

Abstract

The inclusion of exclusion in autopoiesis is a far-reaching step that demands a revisiting of the concept of autopoietic society. This article proposes a radicalisation of the concept on the basis of an acknowledgment of the impossibility of communication with the excluded. This acknowledgement conditions society from within. It is built upon the Luhmannian description of Barbarism as the included exclusion, and is further conceptualised as its excess, as a ›space of absences‹ Within autopoiesis, absence is described as an aporetic rather than a paradoxical structure, a memento vanitas that irritates the system from within, constantly reminding it of its limitations.

Online erschienen: 2016-5-27
Erschienen im Druck: 2008-5-1

© 2008 by Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Inhalt Jahrgang 14 (2008)
  2. Introduction: The Form of the Problem
  3. Are There Still Indispensable Norms in Our Society?
  4. Beyond Barbarism
  5. On Norms as Social Facts: A View from Historical Political Science
  6. The Fact of Values
  7. A Test of Conscience Without Indispensable Norms: Niklas Luhmann’s War on Terror
  8. »Against Normative Tone-Deafness«
  9. Torture and Systems Theory
  10. »Human Rights Fundamentalism« The Late Luhmann on Human Rights
  11. On Absence: Society’s Return to Barbarians
  12. Abstracts
  13. About the authors
  14. Hinweise für unsere Autoren
https://doi.org/10.1515/sosys-2008-0111

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Inhalt Jahrgang 14 (2008)
  2. Introduction: The Form of the Problem
  3. Are There Still Indispensable Norms in Our Society?
  4. Beyond Barbarism
  5. On Norms as Social Facts: A View from Historical Political Science
  6. The Fact of Values
  7. A Test of Conscience Without Indispensable Norms: Niklas Luhmann’s War on Terror
  8. »Against Normative Tone-Deafness«
  9. Torture and Systems Theory
  10. »Human Rights Fundamentalism« The Late Luhmann on Human Rights
  11. On Absence: Society’s Return to Barbarians
  12. Abstracts
  13. About the authors
  14. Hinweise für unsere Autoren
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