Κοινότητα-κοινοτισμός-κοινωνία- κοινωνική θεωρία: από την αυτονομία στην αυτο-αναφορά Conimunity-communitarianism-society-social theory: from autonomy to self reference El En

Résumé En

The modern discussion about Communitarianism has, from a theoretical and methodological point of view, only minor differences with the older one that took place at the beginning of the 20th Century, mostly among German intellectuals.Today’s discussion about Communitarianism has obtained a more political character since it is considered to be a precondition able to set us free from the disagreeable consequences of the globalised capitalism. The proposed re-establishment of the old moral and social values, which today have been degraded, is an instrument for the achievement of a better world instead of a ‘colonised’ social world.The theory of self-referential social systems has also a proposition for a better world, which, prima facie, is opposed to Communitariansim. Searching in details the theory of self-referential social systems, which argues for the self-reference of the social and psychic systems (i.e. for their informational openness and operational colseness), we can see that the selective communication between them consolidate their autonomy and emancipation. In a paradox way, this has also been the goal of the Communitarianism.The article attempts to show both the distance between these two theoretical approaches, and their emerging convergence.