Die komplementarität von sprechakttheorie und systemtheoretischer kommunikationstheorie. Ein hermeneutischer beitrag zur methodologie von theorievergleichen

Abstract

In recent theorizing the relation between the concepts of communication and of action has been controversial. Speech act theory analyzes communication as sequences of intentional actions. In contrast Luhmann's systems-theoretical approach inverts the conceptual hierarchy implied here: By analyzing actions as a product of the self-simplification of communication, systems theory proposes communication as the more basic concept. - With reference to this controversy this article explores a possible solution with the methodological tools of hermeneutics. In the first part a number of hermeneutical maxims of intertheoretic comparison are sketched out. In the subsequent part a comparison is carried out which leads to the result that speech act theory and the systems-theoretical conceptualization of communication have to be interpreted as answers to different, but complementary problems. Using conversation analysis as a 'third party' it is shown how both approaches can be integrated, at the same time confirming the claim, in an empirically demonstrable way, that "communication", in relation to "action", is the more basic concept.