Niklas Luhmann as an Empirical Sociologist: Methodological Implications of the System Theory of Society

Although its theoretical fruitfulness is widely recognized, Niklas Luhmann's system theory is still considered unable to guide empirical research. We think that this criticism underestimates the potential of system theory. Starting from the discernment that in the works of Luhmann not only epistemological considerations and methodological suggestions, but also the practical application of methodological procedures, are present we highlight the empirical side of Luhmann's system theory. Research inspired by system theory can be empirical as long as the following prerequisite is fulfilled:the research should embrace epistemological premises which overcome the presumption of a direct access to the world 'as it is.' The latter should be replaced by the acknowledgment of the existence of different perspectives and of the contingency of every observation (including empirical ones). At the methodological level this has the consequence that questions of 'what it is' and the correlated aim to collect additional data in order to uncover additional facts are no longer central. On the contrary, what becomes crucial is the observation of 'how the world is being observed' through the contingent criteria of the observed social systems, while relying on the contingent criteria of the observing social system.