Local Wisdom in a New Paradigm: Applying System Theory to the Study of Local Culture in Indonesia

Human sociality can be understood as an organism. Almost all aspects of life can be understood in a phenomenological sense as part of a life system. An appropriate perspective for considering life and interpreting social reality is extremely important in determining direction and orientation for mankind. The aim of this paper is to describe a new methodological point of view discover the natureof social reality in the study culture in Indonesia. In taking a perspective from philosophy, this research endeavors to provide a new perspective in the study of local wisdom in Indonesia. This paper presents a philosophical view on approaching the study of local wisdom (kearifanlokal): first, human social systems are systems of self-reference; second, human sociality is actualized in social systems that are contingent. Local wisdom can be viewed as a social and communicative system that produces a kind of self-organization (autopoesis) within a culture.