The Daily Planet #53: Metabolic Sovereignty, Part 2. Luhmann's version of Autopoiesis

Niklas Luhmann’s concept of autopoiesis, adapted from the biological concept of the same name due to Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, offers a profound framework for understanding society as a self-producing and self-referential system. Autopoiesis, meaning self-creation, originally described living cells’ ability to reproduce and organize themselves.

Luhmann extended this idea to social systems, viewing society not as a collection of individuals but as networks of communication that continuously reproduce and evolve through their own operations. In his theory, social systems are operationally closed, meaning they function according to their own codes and processes (this is where it aligns with sovereignty) and by staying stable despite interactions with a dynamic environment. This environment is not a fixed reality but is constructed by the system itself through observation, which reduces complexity by marking distinctions.

Communication is central to Luhmann’s theory; it is not mere information transfer but an emergent process involving the synthesis of information, utterance, and understanding, including misunderstanding. This process is inherently uncertain due to “double contingency,” where each participant must anticipate how the other will interpret and respond. Systems stabilize through repeated communication, creating structures that manage complexity and difference. Differences and paradoxes are not problems but the very conditions that drive ongoing communication and system evolution.

Luhmann’s autopoietic social systems are non-historical and lack a fixed origin, emphasizing the contingent and provisional nature of all social observations and agreements. Society is thus communication itself, continuously producing its own conditions and boundaries. This perspective challenges traditional ontological categories and highlights the complexity and unpredictability of social life.

While often seen as conservative or deterministic, Luhmann’s theory has critical potential, especially in legal and social theory, by revealing how systems observe and stabilize their environments. It also opens space for reflecting on the limits of rationality in the face of ecological and technological challenges, suggesting that autopoiesis is a key concept for understanding the evolving complexity of modern society.

Niklas Luhmann: What is Autopoiesis?

The term autopoiesis (self-creation) is a neologism coined in 1972 by Varela and Maturana, Chilean cellular biologists and systems theorists, to describe

PS: Luhmann has like a zillion books and papers on Autopoiesis and other topics. His prolific output is attributed to his note-taking system, the infamous Zettelkasten. Wikipedia says:

Starting in 1952–1953, Luhmann built up a Zettelkasten of some 90,000 index cards for his research, and credited it for enabling his extraordinarily prolific writing (including about 50 books and 550 articles)