UDC

124:304+211

DOI

10.17238/issn2227-6564.2019.1.110

Authors

Yuliya G. Matushanskaya
Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University; ul. Kremlevskaya 18, Kazan, 420008, Respublika Tatarstan, Russian Federation;
e-mail: jgm2007@yandex.ru

Abstract

This article analyses the concept of the second-order observer, which, according to Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory, includes God. At the same time, God is not a person, but some external element of the system. Luhmann’s complex theory of social systems reflects a new perspective on both society and religion. Religion generates meanings that maintain integrity of the social system, whose survival requires an external observer – an observer of observations – who is a kind of transcendence that can only be comprehended by going beyond the system’s meanings. This work aimed to determine the importance of the new approach to religion and to the concept of God presented in Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory. Previously, God had rather been a subject of metaphysical speculations than a serious topic of research in social philosophy. Greater awareness of the importance of Luhmann’s innovation can help to significantly change the approach to studying society, relationships between religion and civilization, science and religion, as well as to understanding the function of religion as a regulator of social processes. The methodological basis for this article is Nikolas Luhmann’s structural functionalism, in particular, his theory of autopoietic social systems. The author of this paper comes to the conclusion that Luhmann’s new approach to religion as an important factor of changes (self-reference) in the society leads to revision of the main ideas of religion as of something conservative and static in its essence. Being in the area of the transcendental, religion generates new meanings and promotes the evolution of the old ones, thus changing the immanent, that is, in effect, phenomenal reality. This can make a significant contribution, to the development of both social philosophy and ontological aspects of philosophical knowledge. The results of this research can be applied in teaching philosophy and religious studies.

Keywords

transcendence, Niklas Luhmann, the Great Observer, second-order observer, God, systems theory

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