Interdisciplinary futures? A conceptual approach

Abstract

In this article we argue that to adequately investigate futures across disciplines a genuinely interdisciplinary agenda is required, through which futures might be collectively conceived (if not agreed on) and that the most urgent first step is to establish interdisciplinary common ground. We examine how the use of concepts in scholarship can be mobilised for this purpose, and we propose engaging interdisciplinary concepts in futures research. In doing so we draw on our ethnographic review of existing futures-focused academic literatures. Our research revealed an abundance of diverse futures theory, however it suggested greater possibility to create spaces for interdisciplinary convergence, debate and potential collaboration at the conceptual level. We propose a conceptual framework composed of three layers or categories: ontological framing concepts, epistemological encountering concepts and phenomenological experiential concepts. We explore the relations within and between these layers of concepts to propose that our framework might be used in two ways: to generate collaboration focused on the concepts; and to track the possible consequences of alignments between concepts from different categories.