The Greatest Mystery of Futures Studies;




Virmajoki, Veli

PublisherWiley

2026

 Futures & Foresight Science

8

2

2573-5152

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

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

https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/526620926



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.




futures studiesPhilosophy of science

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