Elements of a cybernetic epistemology: Decisions, control and principles of societal organization

Purpose – The paper seeks to put together cybernetics principles determining the possibilities of interaction between two or more goal‐oriented systems to show that they are determining the patterns of societal organization, too. Design/methodology/approach – Goal‐orientation and decision‐rules, as found in simple feedback systems, and Ashby's Law of requisite variety are repeatedly applied to investigate the cybernetic possibilities for the interaction and organization of goal‐oriented systems. Findings – The interaction of goal‐oriented systems can lead directly to conflict, cooperation or hierarchy. Out of conflict and cooperation there is a further tendency to develop hierarchies. And in a diversifying environment a hierarchical higher system can grow, get suppressive or perish. It is shown how all this abstract cybernetic reasoning applies to societal organization, too: laws follow the form of decision‐rules of feedback systems. Institutions making laws have to define the elements of such decision‐rules. And societal organization processes for solving conflicts face exactly the options derived from the interaction of goal‐oriented systems. Practical implications – The goals and the goal‐oriented decisions pursued by a “system” like a person or an institution, are identified as the most important cybernetic determinants to explain seemingly complex phenomena like societal organization. Originality/value – The paper shows that just a few cybernetics principles determining the possibilities of interaction between two or more goal‐oriented systems suffice to analyze and explain processes of societal differentiation and organization.