The role of the environment in system creation in Luhmann and Hegel: between imagination and reason

Abstract

This paper will aim to accomplish two things to show Luhmann’s and Hegel’s support of language and communication as dependent on culture, but also their differences with respect to how culture is formed in conjunction with the environment. This paper will firstly show how Hegel distinguishes between the imagination and reason in a different manner from Luhmann, as Hegel considers them logically connected while Luhmann considers them as coextensive. Secondly, this paper will show how reason and imagination create culture through the environment via dialectical idealism in Hegel and a poly-contextural constructivist approach in Luhmann