Thomas Moynihan

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...

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...