Autoreferenza del senso ed evoluzione delle idee: il contributo della teoria dei sistemi sociali alla sociologia del sapere

Social systems theory is epistemologically based on the circular self-reference of its arguments. From the standpoint of sociology of knowledge this may be conceived of as the outcome of the self-reference of meaning. The main hypothesis is that evolution enhances autological descriptions of society. For instance, the theory of evolution itself actually is the outcome of theoretical evolution. The following article deals with a case study, the idea of system, and tries to suggest some reflections about values and limits of sociological theory employing the conceptual equipment of system theory

Time Construction in Insurance Society

The article deals with the social and economic meaning of insurance contracts between the late medieval and the modern society. Starting from the empirical analysis of one of the early marine insurance contracts which were stipulated in the second half of the 14th century, the hypothesis is suggested that the premium rate does coincide with the estimated average frequency of sea accidents. This rate is used to observe the future in the medium of probability for managing risk business. The main thesis then arises that insurance premium is a way of giving a certain price to the uncertainty of the future, and that it finally represents the costs of its observation. A comparison with the original function of money in primitive societies based on reciprocity is finally developed in order to clarify how time construction depends on social structures

Operational Closure and Self-Referentiality. Hume's Theory of Causal Inference from the Standpoint of Second-Order Cybernetics

This article deals with the problem of how operationally closed systems can construct a reality and get therefore their bearings in the world, but rather than looking for new theoretical solutions it suggests to go back to the empirical philosophical tradition of the first modernity, in order to find some of the roots of a really modern solution to such a problem. Following a suggestion of both the leaders of first- and second-order cybernetics Alfred N. Wiener and Heinz von Foerster, this article re-frames David Hume’s theory of causal inference in order to verify the basic assumption that not only Hume anticipated second-order cybernetics in interesting ways, but we can also use Hume and second-order cybernetics to inform each other leading to a better understanding of both. Starting from the statement according which the problem of causality represents “one of the most sublime question in philosophy”, the article goes deeply inside the problem of causality in order to argue that the new epistemological deal has to be conceived of as a process of internalization of cognitive facts. This path of search leads to cast new light on the paramount concept of sign, conceived of as the possibility that certain environmental events or data again set off the self-reference of a cognitive system, which thus switches from memory to expectation. Aim of this article is finally to show that the main results of a interdisciplinary theory of cognition such as second-order cybernetics are particularly congruent with the speculations of the Scottish philosopher and that Hume’s reflections still have at the same time an extraordinary relevance regarding the most advanced elaboration of the main epistemological problems

Die Episodisierung der Gesellschaft

„Episodisierung“ ist ein der wichtigsten aber zugleich bis heute am wenigstens erforschten Begriffe der Theorie gesellschaftlicher Differenzierung. Versucht man, den Episodisierungsbegriff schärfer zu bestimmen, versteht man, dass es nicht nur um die evolutiv hervorgegangene Differenz von Interaktion und Gesellschaft, sondern auch um die unwahrscheinliche Selbsterzeugung der Gesellschaft geht, obwohl die Gesamtgesellschaft nicht lediglich aus Interaktionen besteht. In diesem Beitrag wird die These untersucht, nach der eine Episodisierung der Gesellschaft in eigentlichem Sinne nur dann entsteht, wenn Interaktion und Gesellschaft sich voneinander so stark differenzieren, dass man nicht mehr voraussetzen kann, dass die Gesellschaft unmittelbar auf Interaktionen angewiesen ist. Von nun an bereitet man sich vor, Interaktionen in Form von Episoden und nicht mehr von ritualisierten Ereignissen zu organisieren.„Episodization“ is one of the most important but at the same time one of the less investigated ideas of the theory of social differentiation. If one tries to understand the background of this idea, it becomes immediately clear that it deals not only with the evolutionary differentiation between interaction and society, but also with the improbable self-reproduction of social systems. The main thesis of this article would be that a real episodization of the society could be found only when interaction and society differentiate themselves so strongly that it can be no more presupposed that the society is immediately based on interaction. For this reason interactions can be no more realized in form of ritualized events but they must be organized in form of episodes

El archivo como máquina histórica: el sistema de selección e información en las prácticas de catalogación

The article aims at explaining archives as historical machines for information storage and retrieva

La teoria dell\u2019inferenza causale di David Hume dal punto di vista della cibernetica di secondo ordine

This article offers a contribution to a cybernetic interpretation of Hume\u2019s theory of causal inference and expounds the importance of such theory as one of the first modern forms of internalization of cognitive phenomena, by explaining why for the Scottish philosopher causality should no longer be seen as metaphysical quality but rather as construction of the mind, according to its capacity to co-ordinate self- and hetero-reference and to structure the outcome of that coordination in the form of a cognitive memory

Letteratura e società: il genere ‘enciclopedia’

L'articolo studia la relazione fra l'invenzione della stampa e la differenziazione dei generi letterari nella prima modernità, con particolare attenzione allo sviluppo dell'enciclopedia moderna in confronto all'enciclopedismo medieval

The Strongness of Weak Signals: Self-reference and Paradox in Anticipatory Systems

Social sciences are experiencing an anticipatory turn. A core issue of this turn are the so-called ‘weak signals’. In order to speak of this type of signals, we must use the distinction between weak and strong. The question may be raised, who handles this distinction? That is, who is the observer? It seems that only two answers are possible: the observer is either outside or inside, i.e., either he is a world-observer, or he is a extra-world-observer. In the latter case, the problem of weak signals disappears; after the fact, everybody is able to say “I told you!”. In the former case, the system has to face the dilemma of warning signals. As social systems cannot observe themselves from the outside, the issue of weak signals should be explained as the outcome of a self-referential dynamics that finally leads to the paradox of knowing the unknown. In fact, the difference between weak and strong refers not to the future as such (to what is signalized), but to the observing system itself. The main hypothesis of this contribution is that a signal is weak for a lack of redundancy that hinders the system to combine a reference to an environmental event with a concomitant reference to a systemic cognitive map. By means of a system theory of sign, it should be possible to see the difference between weak and strong as an unfolding device for temporal paradoxes arising in social systems, and to support the hypothesis that, since in social systems cognitive maps are contingent on time, signals can be only weak, never strong

The Relevance of Relevance: Forgetting Strategies and Contingency in Postmodern Memory

We live in a “search engine society”. Underlying this self-description of post-modern society there is the crucial dependency of social memory from archives. Apart from moral and legal concerns, search engines are sociologically intriguing subject because of their close connection with the evolution of social memory. In this contribution I argue that search engines are non-semantic indexing systems which turn the circular interplay between users and the machine into a cybernetic system. The main function of this cybernetic system is to minimize the deviation from a difference, that between relevant and not-relevant. Through mechanical archives, post-modern social memory can cope with increasing knowledge complexity. The main challenge in this respect is how to preserve the capability of discarding in order to produce information

From Actuarial to Behavioural Valuation: The Impact of Telematics on Motor Insurance

Algorithmic predictions are used in insurance to assess the risk exposure of potential customers, for the purpose of improving how the problem of adverse selection is tackled. This paper examines the impact of digital tools in the field of motor insurance, where telematics devices produce data about the behaviour of the insured party. The individual’s resulting behavioural score is combined with their actuarial score to determine the price of the policy or additional incentives. Current experimentation is moving in the direction of proactivity: instead of waiting for a claim to occur, insurance companies engage in coaching and other interventions to mitigate the risk. Such practices may have consequences for the social function of insurance, whose traditional aim has been not to reduce risks, but to make them bearable by socialising them over a pool of insured individuals. The introduction of behavioural variables and the corresponding idea of fairness could instead isolate individuals in their exposure to risk and affect their attitude towards the future