Definition of Double Contingency of Communication
Following Talcott Parsons and Niklas Luhmann, the double contingency of communication refers to the fact that in orientation you can never have a totally reliable knowledge of your interlocutor. Individuals are black boxes as their different standpoints are never fully transparent to one another. Since your interlocutor’s statements can always differ from what you expect, communication is contingent; it is doubly contingent as far as both anticipate this when speaking with each other. To allow continuity in communication nonetheless, one will try all the more to respond in such a way as to provide the other with an opportunity to respond in an expected way. As double contingency must be mastered in ever-new circumstances in ever-new ways, it does not seem helpful to presume certain predefined commonalities like truthfulness or willingness for consensus. Rather, orientation tries to stay connectable for others, uses diplomacy of signs , builds trust, and thus allows leeways for alternatives which are not preemptively decidable (chap. 10.5).
Note:
The chapters and the page numbers refer to the book by Werner Stegmaier, What is Orientation? A Philosophical Investigation, translated by Reinhard G. Mueller (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2019).
130-135, 141, 152-153, 156-157, 159, 168, 186-188, 208, 216, 239, 241, 243, 256, 272
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