Meaning and Linguistic Sign in System Theory of Niklas Luhmann

Abstract

The concept of meaning and communication is the core of the sociological conception of Niklas Luhmann. As he claims, “Meaning is co-present as a reference to the world in everything that is actualized... Society is a meaning constituting system” (Luhmann Niklas. Theory of Society. Stanford University Press, 2012, vol. 1). He considers the issue of a correlation of meaning with other concepts of his theory of social in almost all of his works. Obviously, on this occasion the linguistic issues also became matters of consideration. Language, however, is associated by Luhmann not so much with the production of meaning as with communication. The concept of a linguistic sign as some fixed connection between the signified and the signifier is transformed by Luhmann into a dynamic operation of juxtaposing communicative and cognitive characteristics, as a medium between cognition and communication.