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Autopoiesis in Law and Society: A Rejoinder to Blankenburg

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Gunther Teubner
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Abstract

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In this rejoinder, I try to clarify and to develop further the concept of “reflexive law” by expanding its theoretical framework. I make use of the theory of autopoietic systems—a recently developed version of system theory. Legal autonomy and social autonomy turn out to be the crucial concepts. Their reformulation in terms of closed, self-referential, and self-reproductive structures leads to the core problem for a post-interventionist law: Can the law adapt its internal models of social reality to the autopoietic organization of legally regulated social systems?

Type
Commentary and Debate
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , 1984 , pp. 291 - 301
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 by The Law and Society Association

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