Between Facts and Norms - Contributions to a ... - Blogs Unpad

354Chapter 8their operation. Through the shared code of ordinary language,each of these systems also concomitantly satisfies the functions ofthe other two and thus maintains a relation to the totality of thelifeworld. The core private spheres of the lifeworld, which arecharacterized by intimacy and hence by protection from publicity,structure encounters between relatives, friends, acquaintances,and so on, and link together the members' life histories at the levelof face-to-face interactions. The public sphere has a complementaryrelation to this private sphere, from which the public, as thebearers of the public sphere, is recruited.The lifeworld forms, as a whole, a network composed of communicativeactions. Under the aspect of action coordination, its societycomponent consists of the totality oflegitimately ordered interpersonalrelationships. It also encompasses collectivities, associations,and organizations specialized for specific functions. Some of thesefunctionally specialized action systems become independent vis-avissocially integrated spheres of action, that is, spheres integratedthrough values, norms, and mutual understanding. Such systemsdevelop their own codes, as the economy does with money and theadministration does with power. Through the legal institutionalizationof steering media, however, these systems remain anchored inthe society component of the lifeworld. The language oflaw bringsordinary communication from the public and private spheres andputs it into a form in which these messages can also be received bythe special codes of autopoietic systems-and vice versa. Withoutthis transformer, ordinary language could not circulate throughoutsociety.In the following discussion, I make use of Bernard Peters's modelto give a more precise form to, and seek a tentative answer to, thequestion of whether and how a constitutionally regulated circulationof power might be established.45 According to Peters's proposal,processes of communication and decision making inconstitutional systems display the following features: they lie alonga center-periphery axis, they are structured by a system of"sluices,"and they involve two modes of problem solving. The core area ofthe political system is formed by the familiar institutional complexesof administration (including the incumbent Government) ,judicial system, and democratic opinion-and will-formation (which