If the allocation of roles, rights, and responsibilities takes place through discourse, emancipation involves the capacity to identify those discourses which are likeliest to meet our particular needs. Although conditions of entry, involvement, and departure are complex issues, the extent to which they are negotiable may be strongly related to the degree of certainty with which the views of those who are dominant in the discourse are held. A simple paradigm is constructed to help to distinguish between forms of discourse, and its usefulness tested by placing it in the context of systemic discourse. By this means, Fuenmayor, Foucault, and Maturana are dragged into the discussion.