in the 19060s among the staff of the administration office Luhmann was there he want to law school but he as chosen to be a public servant <موظف حكومي> he didn’t like the idea of having to work with multiple clients fully aware he is also not suited of a career in **administration as it involves a lot of socializing, to follow his interest in philosophy and sociology he was doing a lot of reading after his 9-5 shift. whenever he encountered something remarkable or had a thought about what he read he make a note.
after collecting notes for a whule in the way most people do - commenting in the margins of a text, Luhmann realised that his note-taking was not leading anywhere, so he turned note-taking on its head. instead of adding notes to existing categories or respective text he wrote them all on small paper cards, put a number in the corner and collect them in one place - the slip box aka zettelkasten He soon developed new categories of these notes. he realised that one idea, one note was only as valuable as its context which was not necessarily the context it was taken from, so he started to think about how one idea could relate and contribute to different contexts
Just collecting notes in one place would not lead to anything other than a mass of notes, instead, he collected his notes in an organized way inside his slip-box. his slip-box become his dialogue partner, main idea generator and productivity engine. it helped him to structure and evelop his thoughts and it was fun to work with because it worked. and then that led him to enter academia, on day he put some of these thoughts together into a manuscript and handed it over to Helmut Schelsky one of the most influential sociologists in Germany who toke it home, read what this academic outsider had written and contacted Luhmann. He suggested that he should become a professor of sociology in the newly founded University of Bielefeld. as attractive as this position was, Luhmann wasn’t a sociologist, he didn’t have the formal qualifications to become an assistant sociology professor in Germany, He hadn’t written a habilitation, he had never held a doctorate or even obtained a sociology degree. Most People would take the offer as a huge compliment, but point out the impossibility of it and move on. but not Luhmann he turned to his slip-box, and with its help he obtained all requirements in less than a year!! He was chosen to become a professor of sociology at Bielefeld University shortly after, in 1968 as position he would hold for the rest of his life.
this leads to Luhmann’s ZettelKasten PS: At the time Helmut Schelsky contacted him, Niklas Luhmann was in the midst of his transition from civil service to academia. He had begun his academic career with his research position at the University of Münster, but his move to the University of Bielefeld marked his full commitment to an academic career. Luhmann’s age when he started transition to Academia was 38 or 38 years old. Luhmann was married and had children. He married Ursula Luhmann in 1960. Together, they had three children: two sons and a daughter. Despite his intense focus on his academic work, Luhmann maintained a family life alongside his professional endeavors
Niklas used his techniques and tools that turned (him) the son of a brewer into one of the most productive and revered social scientists of the 20th century. He published:
- Books: Luhmann published around 58 books during his lifetime.
- Papers: He authored more than 400 academic papers.
- 1961 published his first paper Luhmann’s active publishing career began in the mid-1960s and continued until he died in 1998, covering roughly three decades. he used the zettelkasten method to orgnaize his thoughts and ideas to create all his academic content.