Dia-Logos

DIA-LOGOS
THE FUTURE IS ELSEWHERE: HERE

Contemporary societies are facing new challenges, both in terms of their scope, and in terms of their ability to deal with them. Some of these challenges affect the natural "covers" in which human beings operate: their bodies and their environment. Others relate to the actions societies perform on themselves: habitat, forms of solidarity, development, identities, and government.

They all possess certain characteristics that distinguish them from problems experienced before: the multiplicity of elements involved; the global scale of the issues at stake; tje irreversible consequences of the various options available, and the need to make predictions about the distant future in order to address current problems. Some of the challenges we face, such as genetic engineering or global governance, are entirely new, while others, such as ageing or urbanization, have been with us for much longer, but have given rise to new approaches and new arguments.

The new dimension might also arise from the fact that, as in the case of GMOs or terrorism, the implications of these challenges have made such a striking visual impact on the general public. Whether they relate to the object of the study, the intellectual framework or the social context, these new challenges have brought us face-to-face with a rapidly changing world, calling for immediate and effective responses. This is turn has created a sense of great urgency.

THE FUTURE IS ELSEWHERE: HER COMING TO TERMS WITH COMPLEXITY AND DEVELOPING REFLEXIVITY A DOUBLE DEFICIT SOCIAL THEORY AND SOCIAL ISSUES: A PECULIAR CHOICE A KNOWABLE WORLD, PERFECTIBLE SOCIETIES CHARTE (PDF)
	DIA-LOGOS THE FUTURE IS ELSEWHERE: HERE Contemporary societies are facing new challenges, both in terms of their scope, and in terms of their ability to deal with them. Some of these challenges affect the natural "covers" in which human beings operate: their bodies and their environment. Others relate to the actions societies perform on themselves: habitat, forms of solidarity, development, identities, and government. They all possess certain characteristics that distinguish them from problems experienced before: the multiplicity of elements involved; the global scale of the issues at stake; tje irreversible consequences of the various options available, and the need to make predictions about the distant future in order to address current problems. Some of the challenges we face, such as genetic engineering or global governance, are entirely new, while others, such as ageing or urbanization, have been with us for much longer, but have given rise to new approaches and new arguments. The new dimension might also arise from the fact that, as in the case of GMOs or terrorism, the implications of these challenges have made such a striking visual impact on the general public. Whether they relate to the object of the study, the intellectual framework or the social context, these new challenges have brought us face-to-face with a rapidly changing world, calling for immediate and effective responses. This is turn has created a sense of great urgency.