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Possibility Studies & Society
Number of Followers: 2  
 
  Hybrid Journal Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
ISSN (Online) 2753-8699
Published by Sage Publications Homepage  [1176 journals]
  • Embracing difference and cultivating hope: The transformative potential of
           Possibility Studies

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      Authors: Wendy Ross
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      This ending commentary on this inaugural issue of Possibility Studies and Society surveys the papers submitted by over 30 scholars from diverse fields and backgrounds that explore the emerging field of Possibility Studies through the lens of their respective disciplines and theoretical perspectives. It draws out the complexities of the really and ideally possible, the future and the past, and reality and imagination before moving to examine the purpose of Possibility Studies with a focus on political change, education, and hope. It calls for an embrace of non-dualistic attitudes across all domains and an engagement with the energy generated by collaborative difference.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-05-11T07:43:20Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231172436
       
  • Possibility and the temporal imagination

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      Authors: Keri Facer
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.

      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-05-11T07:40:36Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231171797
       
  • Reality studies: Reflections on the possible and actual

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      Authors: Michael Hanchett Hanson
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      What can science and science fiction tell us about the intertwining of the actual and the possible, the relations of imagination and reality' What are some of the ways those relationships can work' Should we be foregrounding possibilities that come primarily from our imaginations or the realities that push our imaginations' Contrary to common assumptions, this essay argues that imagination itself tends to be quite limited, but in some situations can become dangerously ungrounded. In contrast, the challenges of reality are more likely to push us to imagine previously inconceivable and transformative possibilities.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-05-10T05:16:51Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231162311
       
  • Possible, yes, but useful' Why the search for possibilities is limited but
           can be enhanced by expertise

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      Authors: Thomas C Ormerod
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      In creative domains such as art, design and science, the generation of novel possibilities is highly desirable. However, most human activity takes place outside of domains where the generation of novel possibilities is prescriptively optimal, and indeed to do so may be undesirable. In this paper, evidence for the paucity of possibility generation will be described, even in instances where generation of multiple possibilities might be desirable. Conversely, the value of focussing on currently explored rather than novel possibilities is demonstrated with reference to a computational model of insight problem-solving. It is suggested that, in domains where generation of creative possibilities is a task requirement, strategies acquired though domain expertise are needed to push thinking into new possibility spaces. These strategies are illustrated by case studies and data from domains of insurance fraud and police investigations, educational task design and puzzle solving.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-05-08T12:53:16Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231172562
       
  • Easing the sublime: Flow, Daoism, and being-nature

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      Authors: Kiene Brillenburg Wurth
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      Comparative Literature brings to Possibility Studies the toolbox to closely read the generative materiality of things, and the resonances between them, from a plurality of cultural, temporal, affective, and critical perspectives. What is the agency of things in making people think and feel “otherwise”' In this article, I try to answer this question with a view to the idea of the sublime. I revise this idea within a Daoist theoretical perspective of wuwei (doing not-doing)—carefully differentiating it from Czíkszentmihályi’s idea of flow— and self/no-self: of entanglement. I call this re-vision easing the sublime, and I argue that such easing is crucial to the continued relevance of this esthetic category in Possibility Studies. As I conclude, easing the sublime ultimately boils down to an attitude of a being-at-ease with (without being indifferent to) the eternal transformation of things (wu hua).
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-05-06T10:09:50Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231173344
       
  • Possibilities in postnormal times

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      Authors: Alfonso Montuori
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      In a time of global unrest and “polycrises,” the study and utilization of possibilities is a matter of urgency. In this article I briefly review some of the current studies that point to a view of human beings as having greater capacities, potentials, and possibilities, from the cognitive to the relational and spiritual. I celebrate the birth of this journal in the hope that a greater awareness of human possibilities will lead to more attention and research and an awareness that current assumptions about human possibilities are too limited.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-05-06T10:08:23Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231172435
       
  • Calibrating possibility

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      Authors: Kim Wilkins, Lisa Bennett, Helen Marshall
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.

      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-05-03T06:01:56Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231166486
       
  • Expanding our sense of the possible: Ten theses for possibility studies

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      Authors: Hanna Meretoja
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      By exploring our sense of the possible as a narratively mediated phenomenon, this essay brings possibility studies in dialogue with interdisciplinary narrative studies. It suggests that (1) the possible is entangled with actual life worlds that are heterogeneous spaces of possibility, (2) the possible is crucial to our temporal existence as being in the world with others, (3) narratives shape our sense of the possible, (4) possibility studies can contribute to strengthening our narrative agency, (5) narrative imagination has transformative power, (6) fiction can explore worlds as spaces of possibility, foster perspective awareness, and expand our sense of the possible, (7) the possible exists through processes of interpretation, and hence (narrative) hermeneutics is relevant to possibility studies, (8) our relationship to cultural models of sense-making is a possibility relationship, (9) possibility studies can bring to dialogue memory studies, futures studies and narrative studies, and (10) possibility studies should articulate and evaluate the ethico-political affordances and dangers of different discourses of the possible.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-05-02T09:51:15Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231171448
       
  • Possibility space: The role of social sciences in understanding, mapping
           and shaping the future

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      Authors: Geoff Mulgan
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      Social science no longer does enough to map out the possibilities for the future, at a time when there is a serious need for more options. There are many reasons for this including the structure of incentives within universities, and the impact of an otherwise healthy focus on evidence and data. This piece describes both how social sciences can better understand the future and their role in helping to shape options, including methods for creativity, and the relationship between broad goals and experimental methods to find pathways. It addresses the problems of ‘materiality bias’, a bias towards exaggerating the influence of material over non-material factors and concludes with a discussion of how to think about future consciousness.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-04-29T11:37:41Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231170817
       
  • How People Think About Possibilities

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      Authors: Ruth M.J. Byrne
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      Hypothetical thinking is an extraordinary human ability that allows people to think beyond the facts of a situation to imagine alternative possibilities. I first consider how people understand factual conditionals, such as, ‘if there was an apple in the fruit bowl there was a banana’, then how they understand counterfactual conditionals, such as, ‘if Pearl had studied harder she would have passed the exam’, and then how they understand counterpossible conditionals, that is, conditionals about impossibilities, such as, ‘if people were made of steel they would not bruise easily’. I discuss the theory that people understand conditionals by envisaging models of possibilities, and consider experimental evidence that corroborates its predictions for factual, counterfactual, and impossible conditionals.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-04-27T07:00:57Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231171432
       
  • Welcome to Possibility Studies

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      Authors: Arturo Escobar
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      A main goal of Possibility Studies is to explore the complex cultural-political work of imagining the future(s). As this brief note argues, this task is deeply shaped at present by the narrow notions of reality, and hence of the possible, inherited from Western modernity. Becoming aware of the onto-epistemic foundations of modernity thus becomes essential for the collective journey into the reinvention of possibility.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-04-26T09:47:44Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231171450
       
  • Curiosity and networks of possibility

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      Authors: Perry Zurn, Dani S. Bassett
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      The concept of possibility has long been intertwined with the discourse of curiosity. The way things might be can disturb the way things are, but we have to be ready for it. Curiosity provides that readiness. There is a kind of critical curiosity that opens the space of possibility by exploiting the instability of the present, second guessing its current contours and exploring how else the world might be constructed or understood. Put differently, it is because of curiosity that revolutions in science, knowledge, and society become possible. The two work in tandem. If curiosity can be a critical comportment toward the possible, then to fully understand possibility one must also understand curiosity. In this brief essay, we take a moment to think that jointure. How might curiosity studies illuminate possibility studies' From our respective vantage points of philosophy and neuroscience, we analyze possibility through curiosity. In doing so, we ultimately illuminate the novelty bias that informs both concepts, the network structures that characterize them, and the adjacent worlds and opportunities they offer.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-04-22T10:35:14Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231168079
       
  • Non-binary possibilities of creative agency

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      Authors: Daniel X Harris
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      In this short essay I draw on the works of Maxine Greene, Donna Haraway and Anna Craft to reject traditional dualisms and binaries, in favour of proposing a possibility studies that is driven by an activist creative agency, in which thinking and doing are entangled and activated across multispecies contexts, and across multiple temporalities. I call readers to action in living potentially harder but more fulfilling, interconnected and sustainable lives and work, as these three philosophers do, through an emergent possibility studies with the ability to radically change education, scholarship and research, through ‘wide-awake’ hearts, minds and relationships.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-04-22T07:01:33Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231166485
       
  • What if children are not the future' How to support educational
           possibility

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      Authors: Noah W. Sobe
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      This essay begins from the position that the planetspeak bromide “children are the future” has been banalized far past the point any usefulness. Despite the sensible attractiveness of teaching children well and letting them lead the way, the commonplace ad nauseam linking of children to the “future” has perverse disempowering effects. And, in our current moment of conjunctive global crises, it jeopardizes the future as it actually moves us away from—not toward—transformative pedagogies of the possible. This essay suggests ways to rescue educational possibility from narrow “children are the future” banalities.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-04-07T05:08:21Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231168296
       
  • A new horizon for possibility thinking: A conceptual case study of Human
           × AI collaboration

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      Authors: Ronald A. Beghetto
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      Possibility thinking (PT) can be described as an imaginative and action-oriented process that drives movement from what is to what could be. The promise of PT is most fully realized in collaboration with others. With recent advances in AI, it can be argued that natural language models (e.g. OpenAI’s GPT models) represent a possible “other” for such collaborations. This article aims to illustrate, through a conceptual case study, how Human × AI collaboration can support PT. The article opens with a brief overview of the basic principles of PT and how those principles can be applied in Human × AI collaboration. Next, a conceptual case study will be presented, which reports on six examples of Human × AI collaborations used for PT. The article closes with a brief discussion of implications and future directions, including the importance of developing a principled approach when using AI for PT. This article likely will be of interest to broad audiences within and across domains, including readers focused on human-centered AI collaborations and anyone interested in learning more about new and emerging ways to generate possibilities in their learning, work, and lives.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-04-06T05:37:46Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231160136
       
  • The urgency of hope in a time of despair

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      Authors: Mark Freeman
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      Given the state of the world, it is perilously easy—for some, including, at times, the author—to fall prey to despair, including the supposition that the world is moving inexorably downward, perhaps even toward some cataclysmic end. Alluring though despair may sometimes be, and impertinent though hope may sometimes seem, it is precisely in a time of despair that hope becomes most urgent. To succumb to despair is not only fatalistic but problematically “safe.” Hope, predicated as it is on uncertainty about the future, is decidedly more risky. Difficult though it may be to fully embrace hope, it is imperative to hold on to it, for only then can a sense of the possible be sustained.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-03-31T08:47:36Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231164603
       
  • Rhythm and Possibility: Making Space for Ancient Futures

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      Authors: Caspar Meyer
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      This essay explores some of the ways in which archeology and possibility studies can enrich each other’s understanding of time, agency and materiality in human behavior. It discusses the implications of linear conceptions of time for our perception of human pasts and futures, and argues for the adoption of rhythm as an alternative mode of inquiry that is capable of liberating the past from our hindsight and making space for the possible as a generative dimension of cultural practice.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-03-31T08:41:56Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231162304
       
  • The possibility of possibility: Between ethnography and social theory

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      Authors: Daniel M. Knight, Gabriela Manley
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      This paper considers how ‘the possibility of possibility’ as freedom of choice and audacious obligation towards newness found in philosophical works of such scholars as Søren Kierkegaard and Michel Serres is tempered by socio-historical circumstance. Ethnographic material from Scotland and Greece demonstrates contrasting ways that possibilities are impacted by the various timespaces that open or foreclose pathways to the future. Possibility shapes notions of the Self and Society since people are propelled to (in)action by way of recurring and reinterpreted pasts, are pulled through futural horizons in present-day practice or become stuck on the threshold of becoming. In the context of the independence movement in Scotland, possibility plays an active role in political life of independence campaigners with a feedback loop between past-present-future providing momentum to actualise the possible. In Greece, a decade of crisis has foreclosed previously possible futures with people feeling stuck in a repeating spin-cycle where horizons of the possible cannot be crossed. The ethnographic examples showcase how the multiplicities of human life affect the possibility of possibility and how visions of the elsewhere, elsewhen, and otherwise emerge in more or less ‘positive’ scenarios.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-03-21T12:09:34Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699221144190
       
  • The social sciences as future forming

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      Authors: Kenneth J. Gergen
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      The conception and practices of the social sciences are largely the product of a century past. We must now ask the question of whether these traditions adequately equip the sciences for dealing with the daunting global problems of today. Placed in particular question is the traditional focus of research on contemporaneous patterns, events, and conditions. In a world of rapid, globally rippling, and unpredictable change, the significance of such research is debatable. Given the perilous conditions of the world, a shift in the practices of social science is proposed, one that places in the vanguard of our pursuit, the active building of viable futures. Such a shift would favor practices of action research, generative theorizing, creating new forms of cultural life, and process-based education.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-03-16T10:33:45Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231157624
       
  • Possibilities and human reasoning

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      Authors: PN Johnson-Laird
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      This article describes how human reasoning differs from standard logics. It tells the story of three sorts of inference, for example: the possibility of rain implies the possibility of no rain; a forecast of rain or snow implies the possibility of rain and the possibility of snow; and a forecast of frost does not imply a forecast of frost or snow or both. People accept these inferences, which each violate the semantics of standard logics. But, they are predictions from the theory that assertions refer to mental models of possibilities that each hold in default of knowledge to the contrary. The moral of the story is that inconsistencies in human reasoning, unlike those in standard logics, have only local consequences.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-02-18T05:44:12Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231152731
       
  • Basic understandings of possibility

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      Authors: Roberto Poli
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      Three basic acceptations of the possible are presented: the epistemological, the ontological, and the metaphysical. The latter two are presented in some details. They could be distinguished as the processual unfolding of conditions (the ontological reading) and the vision of the process as given and fully completed within each present moment (the metaphysical reading). The ontological dimension can be further distinguished into two different unfoldings of real processes: as the horizontal (temporal) accumulation of determinations and as the vertical (through strata of reality) emergence of both higher entities and higher determinations.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-01-31T07:06:37Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699231151373
       
  • The pragmatic structure of indeterminacy: Mapping possibilities as context
           for action

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      Authors: Roy F Baumeister, Jessica L Alquist
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      Social psychology studies how situations cause behavior. Situations are partly defined by a matrix of possibilities (including probabilities and contingencies), and so human responses are caused not merely by realities but also by possibilities—even including some possibilities that never materialize. The human mind has complex abilities to recognize, imagine, and deal with possibilities. Two important dimensions of possibility, here labeled horizontal and vertical, differ as to how controllable the outcome is for any particular agent and where the value basis originates. Success/failure is an example of the vertical dimension and normally is only partly controllable, whereas open choice such as ordering off a menu is an example of the horizontal dimension. Possibilities and agency develop complex relationships to time: The future is defined by alternative possibilities whereas the past cannot be changed, though it can be re-imagined counterfactually and also reinterpreted. Last, we highlight the problem of how possibilities and probabilities combine. Statistical analysis of variance strategies offer three models of combination: independent and additive (like main effects), damping versus intensifying each other (as in spreading interactions), or reversing each other’s effects (as in crossover interactions).
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-01-31T07:03:57Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699221150777
       
  • Beyond the adjacent possible: On the irreducibility of human creativity to
           biology and physics

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      Authors: Giovanni Emanuele Corazza
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      In this article, the problem of understanding multiple layers of complexity in our universe is addressed, with particular emphasis on explaining creative evolutions in the material, biological, and psycho-social layers. Perspectives from physics, biology, psychology, and philosophy are utilized in the discussion. Process philosophy is used to justify the theoretical foundation of the dynamic universal creativity process. The concepts of unified and final theories are discussed from a position that criticizes reductionism. The concept of the adjacent possible is reviewed as introduced by Kauffman to exclude the possibility that a theory from physics could be extended to explain the biological layer. In a similar way, the adjacent possible is shown to be useful but insufficient to explain the psycho-social layer of complexity, missing fundamental human abilities such as thinking of long-term futures, wisdom, and dynamic creativity leaps that use the impossible as an inspiration.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-01-31T07:01:37Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699221145664
       
  • How entrepreneurs turn the possible into the real—and sometimes
           change the world

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      Authors: Robert A. Baron
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      The words possibility and opportunity are often viewed as synonyms. In the field of entrepreneurship, though, they have different meanings. Possibilities refer to what might be in the future but does not now exist. Opportunities refer to possibilities that can be developed into something real—new products, services, processes. Entrepreneurs evaluate opportunities in terms of their feasibility, potential for development, and whether people will want and use them if available; they then attempt to choose the ones highest on these dimensions. Several factors play a role in entrepreneurs’ success in identifying potentially valuable opportunities, including the findings of relevant research, entrepreneurs’ active search for opportunities, recognition of patterns among apparently unrelated factors, and in some instances, chance. When successful in creating something new and better than what currently exists, entrepreneurs can change human life and—sometimes—the world around us.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-01-27T10:19:30Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699221145584
       
  • Possibilities are quantum

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      Authors: Federico Faggin
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      Creative possibilities require imagination, intuition, vision, creativity, comprehension, and inventiveness, properties that are associated with human consciousness and free will. New developments in quantum information theory have allowed to recently postulate with high confidence that consciousness and free will are properties of quantum systems in pure quantum states. This new development allows saying that possibilities emerge from the quantum level of reality since a classical world is deterministic, that is, algorithmic and predictable, and thus incapable of real creativity. Only a creative agent like a human being could imagine real possibilities in a near-infinite combinatorial sea of patterns, and then figure out some intelligent way to realize them. Even if nature were aimlessly creating random patterns someone should have the comprehension to recognize a creative possibility among them. But comprehension is a non-algorithmic property that requires consciousness.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2023-01-27T10:04:47Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699221142510
       
  • Political plasticity and possibilities for political change

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      Authors: Fathali M. Moghaddam
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      This brief paper explores possibilities for change in political behavior through what I term “political plasticity.” Revolutions provide a suitable context in which to critically examine political plasticity, particularly when the revolutionaries who come to power attempt to bring about radical political changes. The examples of the Bolsheviks who attempted to implement collectivization after the 1917 revolution in Russia, and the Shi’a Muslim fundamentalists, who attempted to create a healthy dictatorial society under velayat-e-faghih after the 1979 revolution in Iran, are used to illustrate limitations to political plasticity, shedding light on possibilities for changes in political behavior.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2022-12-20T01:20:21Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699221135332
       
  • Surprise! Why enactivism and predictive processing are parting ways: The
           case of improvisation

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      Authors: Shaun Gallagher
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      Can we explain how the various factors of knowledge, skill, habit, environmental constraints and affordances interact or integrate in improvisational performance' In attempting to explain how this integration takes place, I’ll consider two possible approaches: predictive processing (PP) and enactivism. I’ll argue that PP, which, on a neuroscientific view, conceives of the mind as set up to avoid surprise, will not be able to explain improvisation if it remains true to its own principles. In contrast, I’ll argue, enactivism, as a form of embodied cognition that takes the explanatory unit to be the brain-body environment, can offer a better explanation of improvisation. I’ll also argue that the notion of habit is central to this account.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2022-12-20T01:18:45Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699221132691
       
  • Possibilities enhanced and constrained: Where dynamic semiosis works

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      Authors: Jaan Valsiner
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      The newly established field of possibility studies is set to solve complex theoretical problems created by the future-based setup of the notion of possibility. Irreversible time sets strict limits upon the uses of the concept of possibility and calls for its conceptualization in terms of cultural psychology of dynamic semiosis. Use of signs work in two parallel ways—organizing the present experience and catalyzing future possibilities. Negotiation of the constraint borders for the future is the main function of possibilities discourse. Hence investigation into possibilities requires coordination of intentionality of the actor with imagination about the future.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2022-11-19T01:08:21Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699221128499
       
  • Possibility studies: A manifesto

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      Authors: Vlad P. Glăveanu
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.

      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2022-11-19T01:06:01Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699221127580
       
  • Another future

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      Authors: Andrew Pickering
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      This essay discusses the macrodynamics of cultural change. Drawing on the history of science, I offer an analysis of revolutionary transformation in terms of the waxing and waning of traditions of practice, in which marginal traditions become mainstream and vice versa. I apply this model to the Anthropocene, identifying dualist traditions of mastery and domination as currently mainstream and nondualist traditions of acting-with, exemplified by indigenous approaches to the environment and by cybernetics, as marginal. My concern is with the growth and unification of the latter as a path to another future, and I point to the need for the establishment of symbiotic relations between them, which has yet to come to pass.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2022-11-16T10:36:45Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699221128225
       
  • Psychological history and predicting the future

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      Authors: Martin Seligman
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      The central hypothesis of new work on Agency is that when people believe they can achieve their goals, progress occurs. When they do not have this mindset, stagnation occurs. This seems to be true for the Greco-Roman Epoch, Ancient China, Biblical time, and Europe from 400 CE to 1800. New quantitative methods for measuring progress and for measuring the frequency of agentic words allow for rigorous collaboration between psychologists and historians. These same methods may contribute to predicting the future.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2022-11-16T10:33:45Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699221128224
       
  • Diverging roads: Democracy, anocracy, autocracy, dictatorship'

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      Authors: Robert J. Sternberg, Christian Fischer
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      Some nations of the world have fallen into autocracy or outright dictatorship. Others are democracies, anocracies (quasi-democracies with features of both democracies and autocracies), or pseudo-democracies (autocracies pretending to be democracies). Some of these nations still can prevent themselves from falling into the dictatorship trap. They have a choice, but what will they do' This article discusses the current state of governance in the world, how autocrats emerge, and what can be done—especially in our educational systems—to prevent their emergence. Strengthening democracy, which, according to Freedom House, has been on a steady long-term decline, must be a priority for schooling of young people today.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2022-11-16T10:31:05Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699221128220
       
  • Design research and the study of the possible

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      Authors: Nathan Crilly
      Abstract: Possibility Studies & Society, Ahead of Print.
      Design research has much to contribute to and much to gain from the emerging field of possibility studies. In this short essay, I discuss these opportunities with respect to four topics: (1) processes of mediation and representation, (2) systems perspectives on creative work, (3) methodological options for investigation, and (4) educational challenges that should be addressed. Considering design research’s contributions to each of these topics raises interesting questions that possibility studies might address as it develops. Conversely, possibility studies is already raising issues that design research should also attend to.
      Citation: Possibility Studies & Society
      PubDate: 2022-11-16T10:25:03Z
      DOI: 10.1177/27538699221128218
       
 
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