Page 183 - Communication and the Evolution of Society

160 Communication and Evolution of Society

type could be demonstrated [to have existed} in al/ early civilizations,
this theory, like the others, does not explain why and how these prob-
lems could be solved.

None of the above theories distinguishes between system prob-
lems that overload the adaptive capacity of the kinship system
and the evolutionary learning process that explains the change to
a new form of social integration. Only with the help of learning
mechanisms can we explain why a few societies could find solu-
tions to the steering problems that triggered their evolution, and
why they could find precisely the solution of state organization.
Thus I shall adopt the following orientations:
a. Developmental stages (in the sense of cognitive developmental
psychology) can be distinguished in the ontogenesis of knowing and
acting abilities. I understand these stages as learning levels that lay
down the conditions for possible learning processes. Since the learning
mechanisms belong to the equipment of the human organism (capable
of speech), social evolution can rely on individual learning capacities
only if the (in part phase-specific) boundary conditions are fulfilled.
b. The learning capacities first acquired by individual members of
society or marginal social groups gain entrance into the interpretive
system of the society through exemplary learning processes. Collec-
tively shared structures of consciousness and stores of knowledge rep-
resent, in terms of empirical knowledge and moral-practical insight, a
cognitive potential that can be used socially.
c. We may also speak of evolutionary learning processes on the part
of societies insofar as they solve system problems that represent evolu-
tionary challenges. These are problems that overload the adaptive ca-
pacities available within the limits of a given social formation. Societies
can learn evolutionarily by utilizing the cognitive potential contained
in world views for reorganizing action systems. This process can be
represented as an institutional embodiment of rationality structures
already developed in world views.
d. The introduction of a new principle of organization means the
establishment of a new level of social integration. This in turn makes
it possible to implement available (or to produce new) technical-
organizational knowledge; it makes possible, that is, an increase in pro-
ductive forces and an expansion of system complexity. Thus for social
evolution, learning processes in the domain of moral-practical con-
sciousness function as pacemakers.