Civilizational futures within the integral futures framework: the plural quadrants

Emerald - Tập 12 Số 6 - Trang 69-90 - 2010
Dennis R.Morgan1
1Associate Professor at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Yong‐in, South Korea

Tóm tắt

PurposeExpanding on the findings of the SOPIFF research project, this paper aims to identify eight futures schools of thought, which are analyzed and critiqued through an integral framework. As “Part II” of a previous publication, it seeks to focus on the lower (plural) quadrants.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adapts Ken Wilber's integral theory to clarify various philosophical orientations to the future. It also adapts Fredrich Polak's approach to futures as a matter of “social critique and reconstruction”; however, the approach is global, civilizational, and integral, so it proposes civilizational critique and integral reconstruction as a method for evaluating futures schools of thought.FindingsThe IF framework is found to be a valuable theoretical and analytical tool for clarifying images of the future; it shows lines of development within each quadrant and interactions between quadrants, illustrating the effectiveness of the four‐quadrant approach.Research limitations/implicationsIt further illuminates the “global problematique” expressed in the SOPIFF project and proposes the IF framework as a way to interpret those research findings.Practical implicationsThis approach to futures/foresight studies broadens the range and offers more depth to conceptions of the future, so it should help to develop/improve futures methodologies/practices in general.Social implicationsCivilizational critique and integral reconstruction of images of the future imply unprecedented social change.Originality/valueThe paper should help futurists to see and interpret the “bigger picture” of civilizational futures through revealing the “crack” of the modern image of the future, how it relates to the current world crisis, and what is needed to heal the crack, so a new vision of a preferred future can emerge.

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Emerald

Tập 12 Số 6

69-90

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