A theory can enjoy several degrees of success. At the most basic level, it can spark a revival of interest in a particular discipline. It is put into an epistemological context, researchers interpret it, and critics suggest modifications.
The second level of success comes when analysts no longer concern themselves with a theory as such but rather use and apply it to the study of specific problems. Finally, a theory can have a seminal effect, or in other words it can be put to concrete use in contexts which go beyond the boundaries of its own discipline. From this moment on, we are speaking of a transdisciplinary phenomenon.
Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory has enjoyed all three stages of success. The complexity of this theory has arguably played a considerable role in this success from the perspective of its influence. Luhmann brought together three theoretical areas: systems theory, evolutionary theory, and communication theory. He mobilized these three intellectual fields to explore the characteristic features of modern society.
The work of Krisztián Dombrádi is both proof of and tribute to the three levels of success that Luhmann’s theory has enjoyed. His doctoral dissertation, which shows his thorough knowledge of Luhmann’s ideas, provides a rich elaboration of this theory. Dombrádi’s subsequent publications have gone even further. His 2011 book Ismerős ismeretlen (“The Known Unknown”) examines the relationship between social capital and communication, linking the well-known ideas of Pierre Bourdieu with the critical apparatus offered by Luhmann. Particularly engaging in Luhmann’s method is the use of specific distinctions, which is why his theory is also often referred to as difference theory.
With the book that the reader now holds, Dombrádi offers eloquent testimony to the success of Luhmann’s theory as an approach that transcends disciplinary borders.
His studies explore various aspects of the interconnections among communication theory, systems theory, the military sciences, and artificial intelligence. He raises questions concerning tactical warfare, the problems of decision making in combat situations, and the emergence of new space and time sensing in air warfare. In one of his engaging discussions, he points out that attempts to complement Darwinian evolutionary theory have failed to consider the implications of autopoietic systems and evolutionary theory. He also offers a penetrating analysis of religion and secularization, in which, again drawing inspiration from Luhmann, he discusses the transformed institutional world and the various strategies according to which the legal and moral order make claims to authority. Krisztián Dombrádi’s book gives a rich sense of the array of possibilities for scholars and researchers who seek to apply Luhmann’s ideas.