mddm (2): double contingency

[lorentzen-nicklaus]

chapter 2 contains only d&m's first letter exchange. so this is about what 
sociologists call "double contingency"; the term was first coined by talcott 
parsons and then - check out chapter 3 of "soziale systeme" [1984]! - further 
developed by niklas luhmann. since the social world is always already understood 
in a basic way, you'll never find, empirically, pure double contingency. 
however, here the phenomenon is obvious. both communicators are not only aware 
of their own options but also of the fact that the other has different options, 
too. so the consciousness of things-being-possible-also-in-another-way (and this 
is what aristoteles called "contingency") is given on both sides. according to 
luhmann, the problem of double contingency solves itself evolutionary in the 
time-dimension. a n y t h i n g - a look, a letter, a bombing - is building up 
structures (of expectations or, more precisely, expectations of expectations). 
once this specific social system is established, "when it's no longer necessary 
to pretend as much as they expected they'd have to" (12), the double contingency 
of the beginning can be reflected, deconstructed and integrated.

kfl