A Study On The Art System Theory Of Luhmann

The modernity is the core issue in Modern Sociological Theory that could not be ignored,and Parsons’ structural functionalism marks its rise.After WWII,the dramatic changes have taken place in the western society and Parsons’ theories was questioned by many parties due to that it focuses on the stability.Luhmann started his academic career.He believed that the main problem of modernity is not about certain social structure,but evolution.On such basis,Luhmann took the differentiation and persistence of social system as the core to construct the large social system theory including art.Such opinion also responded the theoretical history of modernity.Since Descartes,some theorists discussed the decomposition of social practice field,and the art system is a practice field of the differentiation of modern social functions.From the perspective of the aesthetic modernity,Luhmann’s art system theory maintains the appropriate relation with the social history.The art system keeps independent in the complex society,but depends on the social environment.Art is a basic exposition of the functional system,and it provides the legitimacy argumentation for the art autonomy from the system theory perspective.Actually,the art system theory is a kind of the functional system theory,wherein,the system theory mainly absorbs the achievement of the modern system theory since modern times.For example,Bertalanffy,the founder of the general system theory,emphasized the biological traits of the system and endows the system with the features of the self-operation and self-reproduction.Shannon’s information theory provided the operating framework for the communication concepts of Luhmann’s system theory,and wiener’s cybernetics is closely associated with its reducible complexity.In the sense of distinguishing form,the system is similar to the structure in the structural linguistics.However,Luhmann attached more importance to universality,instability and multiple possibilities of the system.In the functional pedigree,Luhmann constructed more flexible functionalism by understanding the functional concept of the bioorganic theory in the early Functionalism and referring to Parsons’ interpretation on the social activities and orders.The above features of the functional system theory are involved in the specific construction of the art system theory.Firstly,the independence of the art system in the world is associated to the "type".The world presents as the type difference,rather than the entirety,so does the art.It has to start from a set of difference.On such basis,the art plays the unique function and the perception is involved in communication.Before the invention of printing,the subject of functions is the language.After that,the art is separated from language and it becomes the functional field equivalent to language communication.In addition,the art system differentiation is a part of that of the modern functions.Compared with that the duplicate segmentation before modern times only focuses on the similarity or the hierarchical differentiation only attaches importance to the different points,the sub-systems of the functional differentiation have their similarities,but they have their respective features.Finally,the position holding of the art system should be interpretated in the sense of "observation",and the art is developed from the level of second-order observation.Luhmann’s art system theory has the profound thoughts,strict and detailed logics,but his influence is far less than Habermas and Bourdieu in the same era.However,the values of Luhmann’s art system theory should not be ignored.In terms of the philosophy,Luhmann opposed the traditional essentialism and the questioning of the essence of art in his art system theory.Besides,he also overcame the traditional epistemology with subject-object dichotomy,and established a constructive epistemology in the sense of sociology.In the research of art theories,Luhmann provided his own answers to the end of art,which was popular in 1960 s.Besides,Luhmann’s research methods were different from the traditional studies of rt sociology represented by Adorno,which focused on "aesthetics",and the research represented by Bourdieu,which attached more importance to "society".It may provide the enlightenment or supplement for the paradigm of "new art sociology".