On the scientific context of the concept of communication

Abstract

Observing is a paradoxical operation: a duality as unity, and a distinction between distinguishing and indicating, that is, a distinction that is repeated in itself. One can speak of scientific observation only if such an operation of distinguishing-indication is achieved through concepts. If one observes observation one cannot avoid observing the paradox. When a second-order observer wants to know how the observed observer observes, it has to observe how the observed observer deals with its own paradox, how it de-paradoxizes the paradox. Even scientific communication is an actualization of the paradox of observation, and therefore it is in principle incapable of dealing with logic. A theory of scientific observation should then be concerned with how science has nevertheless managed. The point comes to be: who observes with the aid of the concept of communication, and how does it observe?