GNOSIS, SCIENCE, AND MYSTICISM - A HISTORY OF SELF-REFERENTIAL THEORYDESIGNS

In this paper, we understand we advent of a ''scientific spirit'' as a revival of Gnosticism, which proclaims the superiority of man over hi s creator and considers knowledge (gnosis) to be the key to salvation. Salvation is here understood as from of ''emancipation''. Empirically , toe see our interpretation confirmed in the tremendous influence of the Corpus Hermeticum and the Lurianic Cabala on all the Renaissance s cientists. In the second part of this essay, we continue a line of res earch inaugurated by Ferdinand Christian Baur in the 19th century, and look for Gnostic outlooks in contemporary philosophy and social scien ce. By reading Niklas Luhmann's systems theory as a modem version of G nostic mysticism, we do not intend to dismiss the relevance of his wor k. For if Gnosticism defines ''modernity'', we should not be surprised to find a speculative Gnostic system among society's self-description s.