PENSAMIENTO COMPLEJO Y ESTUDIO DE LA COMUNICACIÓN

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to list a series of theoretical and methodological challenges that the study of communication has to face. I will base my analysis on the complex thought of Morin who has made an acute diagnosis of the current situation of social sciences and suggested how to improve this situation. According to this objective, I have divided my exposition into four parts: 1) First, I will briefly explain what the complex thought is, dedicating special attention to the fundamental concept of emergency. 2) Second, I will point out two different paths that the complexity perspective of communication offers the researcher. 3) Third, I will introduce two of the principles that govern the approach of complexity: the recursive organization principle and the hologrammatic principle. 4) In the last part of the paper I will propose that a distinction should be made between the emergency that takes place in physical systems and the one that originates in human systems. I will argue that, although to date no one has done so, this is an essential step for the study of social action. Recognizing the distinctive characteristics of the emergency that occurs in personal systems has important methodological implications. I will finish with a brief summary of the ideas developed.