Andersen P. B. (1994) The semiotics of autopoiesis. A catastrophe-theoretic approach. Cybernetics & Human Knowing 2(4): 17-38. https://cepa.info/3619
Andersen P. B.
(
1994)
The semiotics of autopoiesis. A catastrophe-theoretic approach.
Cybernetics & Human Knowing 2(4): 17-38.
Fulltext at https://cepa.info/3619
This paper has a dual purpose. On the one hand, it suggests ways of making autopoietic theory more precise and more operational for concrete communication analysis. I discuss concepts such as distinction, system, bound- ary, environment, perturbation, and compen- sation. The explication of the concepts is ba- sed on catastrophe theory, and in order to make them operational I emphasise their affinity to traditional semiotics and communi- cation theory. On the other hand I propose changes to the semiotic tradition in order to incorporate insights from autopoietic theory, namely that the human condition is characte- rised by the phenomenon of self-reference and therefore also by the unavoidability of para- doxes. Firstly, this means that truth cannot be a basic semiotic concept; instead the notion of stability is suggested. Secondly, in order to act in a paradoxical context, we need to unfold the paradox in time, which again calls for a dynamic theory of meaning.
Gentzel P. (2017) Praktisches Wissen und Materialität: Herausforderungen für kritisch- konstruktivistische Kommunikations- und Medienforschung [Practical knowledge and materiality: Challenges for critical-constructivist communication and media research]. M&K Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft 65(2): 275–293. https://cepa.info/6015
Gentzel P.
(
2017)
Praktisches Wissen und Materialität: Herausforderungen für kritisch- konstruktivistische Kommunikations- und Medienforschung [Practical knowledge and materiality: Challenges for critical-constructivist communication and media research].
M&K Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft 65(2): 275–293.
Fulltext at https://cepa.info/6015
This paper analyses the paradigm of constructivism, relating it to current theoretical and empirical developments within social science. I am meeting the demand for describing social and cultural phenomena beyond correspondence-theoretical approaches by critically discussing various forms of constructivism and elaborating on the epistemological position of ‘The Social Construction of Reality’ (Berger & Luckmann). I argue that Berger and Luckmann are epistemologically ‘unscrupulously’ and, subsequently, show analytical weaknesses. This critical discussion forms the backdrop of an unfolding of the position of practice theories and a discussion of their innovative potential to social science research. In this context, the question of how to deal with media as artefacts and technologies is evaluated. I discuss this relationship and analyse it from a communication studies point of view, by means of two prominent analysis concepts, namely the ‘actor-network-theory’ of Bruno Latour and the ‘boundary objects’ approach of Susan Leigh Star from the field of science and technology studies. Finally, I outline central theoretical challenges and analytical perspectives for communication and media research.