A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

The Greatest Mystery of Futures Studies;




AuthorsVirmajoki, Veli

PublisherWiley

Publication year2026

Journal: Futures & Foresight Science

Volume8

Issue2

eISSN2573-5152

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1002/ffo2.70046

Publication's open availability at the time of reportingOpen Access

Publication channel's open availability Open Access publication channel

Web address https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ffo2.70046

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/526620926

Self-archived copy's licenceCC BY

Self-archived copy's versionPublisher`s PDF


Abstract

Futures studies has long lived with a puzzle: every domain the field investigates is already studied by some special science. Three familiar replies—that futures studies extracts insights, takes a longer view, or includes lay perspectives—each capture something real but do not, on closer inspection, individuate the field at the level of its object. A proper object, we argue, is the possibility space, a structured field that is, in essence, constitutively modal, multi-domain, anchored in contested presents, and reflexively shaped by accounts of itself. Futures studies and the special sciences are, probably, doing complementary cognitive labor rather than competing.



Keywords:
futures studiesPhilosophy of science

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Last updated on 03/08/2026 12:31:43 PM