**Marie Theres Fögen**: If you are often stuck in a highway traffic jam, instead of passing the time with muzak (Dudelmusik) or poetry readings, you can take a correspondence course: 14 cassettes »Einführung in die Systemtheorie« (Introduction to Systems Theory) and another 14 cassettes »Theorie der Gesellschaft« (Theory of Society), original recordings of Niklas Luhmann's lectures from 1991/92 and 1992/93.
However, those who are rarely or never stuck in traffic can now read the lecture »Einführung in die Systemtheorie«. Dirk Baecker has edited it, with minor corrections to the spoken text and a short index to the central terms.
The text edition is recommended for readers who have missed the connection to modern theory development. For they are, not unlike beginners in sociology studies at the time, gently and ambitiously introduced to the theory of social systems, and they can – unlike in the texts published and authorized by Luhmann himself – follow the theory construction lesson by lesson ("In today's lesson I will begin with the section on mental and social systems ..."), and at the end of the lesson sit back, exhausted, with Luhmann's "Good, that should do for today." Or even take a step back, because "I don't know if you can quickly come to grips with this confusing theory structure ..."
But one thing the re-readers can't do is ask questions. We wonder if listeners of the time could. The dense, concentrated text speaks against it. The master himself has asked enough questions, for example, where is the Zettel (note) that says that all the other fifty or sixty thousand Zettel (notes) are wrong.
FÖGEN, Marie Theres. His Master’s Voice. Rechtsgeschichte-Legal History, 2003.