"The activity of observing establishes a distinction in a space that remains unmarked, the space from which the observer executes the distinction. The observer must employ a distinction in order to generate the difference between unmarked and marked space, and between himself and what he indicates. The whole point of this distinction (its intention) is to mark something as distinct from something else. At the same time, the observer — in drawing a distinction - makes himself visable to others. He betrays his presence - even if a further distinction is required to distinguish him."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from GermanyPhilosophers from GermanySociologists from GermanySystems scientistsNon-fiction authors from Germany
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p. 54 as cited in: Pamela M. Lee (2004) Chronophobia: On Time in the Art of the 1960's. p. 66.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Niklas_Luhmann
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Niklas Luhmann
1927 – 1998
deutscher Jurist und Soziologe
27 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Niklas Luhmann →
Related Quotes
"Unlike philosophy, art does not search for islands of security from which other experiences can be expelled as fantas…"
"Die folgenden Untersuchungen wagen diesen Übergang zu einem radikal antihumanistischen, einem radikal antiregionalist…"
"In the twentieth century, one encounters artworks that seek to cancel the difference between a real and an imagined r…"
"The art system operates on its own terms, but an observer of art can choose many different distinctions to indicate w…"
"Humans cannot communicate; not even their brains can communicate; not even their conscious minds can communicate. Onl…"
"It had always been clear to me that a thoroughly constructed conceptual theory of society would be much more radical …"
"We are still spellbound by a tradition that arranged psychological faculties hierarchically, relegating ‘sensuousness…"
"No matter how abstractly formulated are a general theory of systems, a general theory of evolution and a general theo…"
"Does knowledge rest on construction in the sense that it only functions because the knowing system is operatively clo…"
"Whatever we know about society, or indeed about the world in which we live, we know through the mass media. This is t…"