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The history of contingency and future-oriented thought / Thomas Moynihan.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Moynihan, Thomas, 1992- author.
- Series:
- Cambridge elements. Elements in historical theory and practice
- Cambridge elements. Elements in historical theory and practice 2634-8616
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Contingency (Philosophy).
- Future contingents (Logic).
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource.
- Place of Publication:
- Cambridge, United Kingdom New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2026.
- Summary:
- "The future is contingent. It can unfold differently, hinging on chance or choice within the present. This Element 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."-- Provided by publisher.
- Contents:
- Introduction: the death of destiny
- Contingency’s gestation
- Future’s dawn
- Contingency unbound
- Conclusion: deep possibility in the non-ergodic universe
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references
- Online resource; title from PDF title page (Cambridge Core, viewed March 4, 2026)
- Other Format:
- Print version : Moynihan, Thomas. History of contingency and future-oriented thought.
- ISBN:
- 9781009358750
- 1009358758
- 9781009358767
- 1009358766
- OCLC:
- 1570338734
- Publisher Number:
- CIPO000329151
- Access Restriction:
- Restricted for use by site license
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