Universalistic binary codes must guarantee the preferred alternative for everyone

Evidence

Of particular importance and relevance are the problems which result if media-codes combine the functions of binary schemas containing built-in preferences (for truths, lawfulness, love, property) with a claim to universalistic validity. This combination in itself has consequences for the code, for if a binary paradigm is imposed on it, the inappropriate alternative within the paradigm cannot be enforced at the same time. Such a code must then guarantee for everyone the possibility of experiencing, or acting according to, the preferred code alternative. It must be possible for everyone to experience truth, to exercise legitimate power or to have it exercised for him, to acquire property, to love or be loved. This possibility is at least guaranteed by excluding its impossibility. For these reasons alone, the principle of internal consistency belongs to the truth-code as well as to the power-code. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 672

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains how a media-code’s universalistic reach forces internal consistency and universal access to the preferred code value.