Affective Systems: Luhmann, Gumbrecht, and the Exhaustion of Meaning

Abstract

This article explores the interplay between Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory and Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht’s concept of presence, focusing on the exhaustion of meaning in culture. Luhmann redefines society as an autopoietic network of communications in which order emerges through recursive selection rather than cultural identity. This abstraction, though precise, marginalises lived experience. Gumbrecht’s focus on presence—embodied, affective, and atmospheric—reveals what systems theory tends to overlook. By synthesising these perspectives, the article proposes an affective systems approach, viewing meaning and presence as co-constitutive in communication. It examines how affect circulates in digital environments where algorithms transform emotions into feedback loops. Culture, thus, becomes an oscillation between code and sensation, balancing systemic coherence with the human longing for immediacy. This framework reimagines systems theory as attuned to societal moods, offering a nuanced understanding of modernity’s tension between abstraction and vitality, where even formal systems resonate with intensity and desire.