Abstract (may include machine translation)
This chapter will focus on two pairs of distinctions emerging within one of our interim working summaries: the distinction between the symbolic and the instrumental senses of the notion of the self and the opposition between self-destruction and dissolution. First, I will suggest that the common ground of shared vocabulary in the summary is rendered coherent by connecting the notions of ‘self’ and ‘death’ in the semantic cloud around the notion of suicide. Relying on Derrida's introduction of the term ‘autoimmunity’ into his lexicon of deconstruction, I will then provide a deconstruction of this difference between dissolution and self-destruction. After exposing the ways ‘autoimmunity’ performs politically—in part as a deconstruction of the notion of ‘self’ and in part as a cancellation of the opposition between life and death—, I will conclude that the distinction between symbolic and instrumental senses of self cannot be guaranteed and that our discursive common ground posited in terms of communication and systems theory is organized by an anthropocentric anxiety of the conventional notion of death.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Self-Destruction of Complex Systems |
Subtitle of host publication | Communicative and Structural Aspects |
Editors | Kirill Postoutenko |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 156-170 |
Number of pages | 15 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781003365365 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781032430188 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2025 |