The contingency of orders: literature as observation between the current and the potential

• Main Authors: Michael Korfmann, Filipe Kegles Kepler
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal Fluminense 2009-12-01
• Series: Gragoatá
• Subjects: Contingência. Literatura moderna. Niklas Luhmann. Teoria dos sistemas
• Online Access: http://www.gragoata.uff.br/index.php/gragoata/article/view/198

The concept of contingency is an essential part of the theory developed by German sociologist Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998). It conceives the production of sense and the perception of the actual as one among other possible and potential selections. While other functional fields like law or science try to maintain a minimal degree of contingency in order to preserve their functionality, the system of art, on the other hand, discusses and potentiates the contingency of the selective processes of sense. Literature emerges as a second order observation that oscillates between the actual and the potential and, pointing to the blind spot of the observation, sharpens the awareness of other possible forms of order.