Anthropology, Ethnography and Second-Order Cybernetics

Abstract

This paper examines the ethnographic method and its epistemological relationship with the Second-Order Cybernetics, which considers that the observer can’t detach from what he observes and, therefore, from the system. This epistemological position seeks to move away from the classic subject/object distinction that has been used by the Social Sciences along their history to depart from the observe/observer distinction, which, according to the results shown here, would respond more ad hoc to the research expectations that embody the Social Sciences, particularly Social Anthropology. What has been stated here contributes to the discussion about the theoretical and epistemic framework of the ethnographic method, contributing to rethink social research. This is achieved through the conceptual approach of authors such as the sociologist N. Luhmann, the biologist H. Maturana, the physicist H. von Foerster and the anthropologists C. Geertz, R. Guber and M. Arnold-Cathalifaud.