futures studies:science or art?

Document Type : Translation

Authors

1 Faculty member of Hamadan University of Technology

2 Assistant Professor of Futures Studies Group at National Research Institute for Science Policy (NRISP)

Abstract

In this paper, we make an attempt to clarify the nature of futures studies with the distinction between descriptive science and design science. Instead of the dichotomy between basic and applied research, this distinction seems to be helpful in the task of understanding the nature of many new “practical” and “professional” disciplines. It also serves to clarify the question raised in my title: the opposition between “science” and “art” is not here the one between natural science and the humanities, but rather the Latin distinction between scientia (as a form of knowledge) and ars (as a form of skill). As ars is a translation of the Greek term techne, the question can be reformulated as the query whether futures studies is a science or a form of social technology.

Keywords

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Popularization of Science
Volume 4, Issue 1 - Serial Number 4
September 2013
Pages 57-63

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