本文企圖探究的是「突現」概念與Luhmann的社會系統理論 之間的關係。一般而言，「突現」概念與複雜系統的自組織（selforganization) 過程有關，在此過程中所出現的嶄新且具連貫性的結 構、類型與性質等，乃被視之為突現概念的主要內涵。有研究者認 為Luhmann在其社會系統理論中並未處理此概念。這樣的看法或許 有失公允。本文所主張的是，在系統形成之運作中，「突現」就是弔 詭。透過對系統/環境的這組差異以及系統在自身之中再引入這組 差異之運作的討論，或許對突現概念提供了不同的理解。「系統即差 異」的觀點以及媒介/形式之區別則提供了理解突現的較好途徑。

The aim of this article is to elucidate the idea of “emergence” and its relation to Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory. Some critics claim that Luhmann overlooks the idea of emergence which can be defined as “the arising of novel and coherent structures, patterns, and properties during the process of self-organization in complex systems”. By contrast, I contend that in fact the idea of emergence exhibits the paradox in the operations of systems formation and can be solved. The emergent property can be explicated through system/environment difference with which system unfolds the paradox within itself. The concept of “System is difference” and its extensive media/form distinction can contribute to a better understanding of the idea of emergence.