The STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI issue article summary

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Around the turn of the 19th to the 20th century general systems theory emerged from existentialistic streams of philosophy. These streams criticised the insufficiency of science to capture ontological categories concerning the life world. Systems theory was in the beginning guided by Dilthey’s hermeneutic understanding that he contrasted with reductionistic scientific explanation. During the second half of the 20th century the proximity to phemomenology vanished, mainly through the influence of cybernetics. Systems theory evolved into a supradiscipline obeying a radical idealistic (constructivist) paradigm. Performative science tries to correct this departure of science from Dasein in taking a phenomenological stance guided by Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and Nishida. The article examines the susceptibility of systems theory for reification in order not to walk into the same trap again. From an analysis of the state-of-the-art in systems theory I conclude that a revival of Cézanne’s vision to confront the sciences with the nature from which they came is overdue. There is no patent remedy, though. An unease remains. Merleau-Ponty’s ambiguity principle appears in a different light.

Keywords: performativity, systems theory, fundamental ontology, hermeneutics