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The History of Contingency and Future-Oriented Thought
Brief Description
The future is contingent. It can unfold differently, hinging on chance or choice within the present. The History of Contingency and Future-Oriented Thought tells the story of how these twin concepts have developed across human history. Arcing from our earliest ancestors, through al-Ghazālī, to S. J....
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The History of Contingency and Future-Oriented Thought
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See moreThe future is contingent. It can unfold differently, hinging on chance or choice. This Element tells the story of how these twin concepts have developed across human history. It demonstrates how humans realised the future is an undecided, contingent place at scales leading beyond the biographical, up to the planetary, and beyond.
The planet's future is in the balance. Events can still play out myriad ways. But how did we prove this?
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Description
The future is contingent. It can unfold differently, hinging on chance or choice within the present. The History of Contingency and Future-Oriented Thought tells the story of how these twin concepts have developed across human history.
Arcing from our earliest ancestors, through al-Ghazālī, to S. J. Gould, the Element demonstrates how humans realised the future is an undecided, contingent place – at scales leading beyond the biographical, up to the planetary, and beyond.
It pinpoints this realisation as an ongoing and unfinished intellectual revolution. Just as the telescope revealed Deep Space in the 1600s, and the geologists' hammer revealed Deep Time in the 1800s, contemporary developments in science are revealing what I call Deep Possibility.
This is the realisation that there is far more possible than will ever be actual. It is this that makes history matter, and gives contingency its bite, insofar as it forces acknowledgement that not all outcomes will come to pass regardless.
Series: Elements in Historical Theory and Practice
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Race, Genetics, History
This Element, about historical practice and genetics, seeks to understand what is at stake in presenting, preserving, and articulating the past in the present. Historical practice is both conceptual and material, a consonance of approach which is reflected in the innovative and non-traditional format of the Element itself – not simply in its length, but its constitution. Race, Genetics, History...Paperback$7900Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
The History of Contingency and Future-Oriented Thought
The future is contingent. It can unfold differently, hinging on chance or choice within the present. The History of Contingency and Future-Oriented Thought tells the story of how these twin concepts have developed across human history. Arcing from our earliest ancestors, through al-Ghazālī, to S. J. Gould, the Element demonstrates how humans realised the future is an undecided, contingent place...Paperback$7500Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
The History of Contingency and Future-Oriented Thought
The future is contingent. It can unfold differently, hinging on chance or choice within the present. The History of Contingency and Future-Oriented Thought tells the story of how these twin concepts have developed across human history. Arcing from our earliest ancestors, through al-Ghazālī, to S. J. Gould, the Element demonstrates how humans realised the future is an undecided, contingent place...Hardback$21300Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781009358781
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 12 March 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Illustration: Worked examples or Exercises
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Weight: 0g
Pages: 74
Also by Thomas Moynihan
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The History of Contingency and Future-Oriented Thought
The future is contingent. It can unfold differently, hinging on chance or choice within the present. The History of Contingency and Future-Oriented Thought tells the story of how these twin concepts have developed across human history. Arcing from our earliest ancestors, through al-Ghazālī, to S. J. Gould, the Element demonstrates how humans realised the future is an undecided, contingent place...Hardback$21300Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks
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