{"title":"在责任与逃避之间:未来作为人文和社会科学的知识对象","authors":"Jenny Andersson","doi":"10.1177/13684310241227866","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The future has been a central object of inquiry in the twentieth-century social theory. In this essay, a first generation of intellectual concern with the future is represented in the post-war turn towards a hermeneutics of time and reflections on modernity in the writings of conceptual historian Reinhart Koselleck and philosopher Paul Ricoeur. In their writings, the future was both essential reflection on the limits of human existence and a fundamental liberation of political potential. As such they situated the future in what was defined as historical time. A second wave of scholarly thinking came in the explosion of a post-war field of futures studies. The future, to post-war futurists, was a loss of telos and an indication of the fundamental immaturity and hubris of the human subject. History was a cumbersome remnant of past destruction, and the imperative was to move beyond. In a third generation, currently taking form, the future is considered as part of a postmodern, indeed posthuman existence. ‘There is no such thing as humanity’ makes human history impossible and opens the question of whether it is even possible to engage with the future without a clear anchoring in the history of what it is to be human.","PeriodicalId":47808,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Theory","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Between responsibility and escape: The future as an object of knowledge in the humanities and social sciences\",\"authors\":\"Jenny Andersson\",\"doi\":\"10.1177/13684310241227866\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"The future has been a central object of inquiry in the twentieth-century social theory. In this essay, a first generation of intellectual concern with the future is represented in the post-war turn towards a hermeneutics of time and reflections on modernity in the writings of conceptual historian Reinhart Koselleck and philosopher Paul Ricoeur. In their writings, the future was both essential reflection on the limits of human existence and a fundamental liberation of political potential. As such they situated the future in what was defined as historical time. A second wave of scholarly thinking came in the explosion of a post-war field of futures studies. The future, to post-war futurists, was a loss of telos and an indication of the fundamental immaturity and hubris of the human subject. History was a cumbersome remnant of past destruction, and the imperative was to move beyond. In a third generation, currently taking form, the future is considered as part of a postmodern, indeed posthuman existence. ‘There is no such thing as humanity’ makes human history impossible and opens the question of whether it is even possible to engage with the future without a clear anchoring in the history of what it is to be human.\",\"PeriodicalId\":47808,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"European Journal of Social Theory\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":2.3000,\"publicationDate\":\"2024-02-13\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"European Journal of Social Theory\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"90\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310241227866\",\"RegionNum\":1,\"RegionCategory\":\"社会学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"SOCIOLOGY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European Journal of Social Theory","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310241227866","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"SOCIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Between responsibility and escape: The future as an object of knowledge in the humanities and social sciences
The future has been a central object of inquiry in the twentieth-century social theory. In this essay, a first generation of intellectual concern with the future is represented in the post-war turn towards a hermeneutics of time and reflections on modernity in the writings of conceptual historian Reinhart Koselleck and philosopher Paul Ricoeur. In their writings, the future was both essential reflection on the limits of human existence and a fundamental liberation of political potential. As such they situated the future in what was defined as historical time. A second wave of scholarly thinking came in the explosion of a post-war field of futures studies. The future, to post-war futurists, was a loss of telos and an indication of the fundamental immaturity and hubris of the human subject. History was a cumbersome remnant of past destruction, and the imperative was to move beyond. In a third generation, currently taking form, the future is considered as part of a postmodern, indeed posthuman existence. ‘There is no such thing as humanity’ makes human history impossible and opens the question of whether it is even possible to engage with the future without a clear anchoring in the history of what it is to be human.
期刊介绍:
An internationally respected journal with a wide-reaching conception of social theory, the European Journal of Social Theory brings together social theorists and theoretically-minded social scientists with the objective of making social theory relevant to the challenges facing the social sciences in the 21st century. The European Journal of Social Theory aims to be a worldwide forum of social thought. The Journal welcomes articles on all aspects of the social, covering the whole range of contemporary debates in social theory. Reflecting some of the commonalities in European intellectual life, contributors might discuss the theoretical contexts of issues such as the nation state, democracy, citizenship, risk; identity, social divisions, violence, gender and knowledge.