Thinking like Luhmann: problem construction and theory-building

Purpose This essay examines how Niklas Luhmann built theories by reconstructing his work as a mode of problem construction. It argues that Luhmann's originality lay less in providing new answers than in transforming what counted as a problem in the first place. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual essay undertakes an interpretive reconstruction of Luhmann's mature formulations, selectively rearranging concepts across epistemological, logical and methodological registers. Findings Three recursively related operations emerge. First, it shows how Luhmann used the concept of form – especially the distinctions of distinction/indication, system/environment, medium/form and information/utterance/understanding – to address the epistemological problems of traditional social science. Second, it explains how the paradox of circularity inherent in distinction-based forms becomes a productive point of departure through de-paradoxification, particularly by means of differentiation, shifts in levels of reference and externalization. Third, it examines how functional analysis, together with the oscillation between generalization and re-specification, reconstitutes reality in terms of problem-solution relations. Originality/value The essay offers a selective architectonic synthesis rather than a revision or extension of Luhmann's theory. By rearranging familiar concepts across epistemological, logical and methodological registers, it makes their recursive interrelations visible and offers Luhmannian and non-Luhmannian scholars a resource for posing new questions and pursuing further theory-building.