Roberto Poli
Biographic Data
| ID | 3873932 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Roberto Poli |
| GIVEN NAMES | Roberto |
| FAMILY NAME | Poli |
| SIGNATURE | POLI R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Trento |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8837-4370 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 42 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 98 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 21 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Future Orienteering Evaluation Model: Forecasting, foresight and anticipation indices
The following paper adopts the term Future Orienteering to indicate the attitude of openness and preparedness to the future of individuals, communities and organisations. If Futures Studies wants to become an independent field of research, future skills need to be developed with appropriate training paths, and future attitudes and strategies need to be evaluated accurately. Thus, considering the necessity of a measurement system for the evaluatio…
Handbook of Futures Studies
This insightful Handbook emphasizes the unique contribution that Futures Studies offers when understanding and managing current situations. Contributing authors argue that by learning to examine the future in the present, individuals and organizations can expand their abilities to analyse, assess and ultimately make better decisions. Bringing together experts across an array of disciplines, this Handbook demonstrates the connections between Futur…
Basic understandings of possibility
Three basic acceptations of the possible are presented: the epistemological, the ontological, and the metaphysical. The latter two are presented in some details. They could be distinguished as the processual unfolding of conditions (the ontological reading) and the vision of the process as given and fully completed within each present moment (the metaphysical reading). The ontological dimension can be further distinguished into two different unfo…
The challenges of futures literacy
Handbook of Anticipation: Theoretical and Applied Aspects of the Use of Future in Decision Making
Anticipation, Agency and Complexity
Handbook of Anticipation: Theoretical and Applied Aspects of the Use of Future in Decision Making
A note on the classification of future-related methods
If futures studies aims to become someday an autonomous field of research and application, it must prove that it contributes knowledge, methods, and viewpoints different from those distinctive of other already established fields. A futurist’s toolbox requires both collecting the methods that make futurists different from other academics and practitioners (without implying that futurists must limit themselves to those methods alone) and organizing…
The Brentano Puzzle
Contents: The Brentano Puzzle: an introduction Who needs Brentano? the wasteland of philosophy without its past Introduction to Paul Linkea (TM)s a /Gottlob Frege as Philosophera Gottlob Frege as philosopher Franz Brentano and the University of Vienna Philosophical Society 1888a 1938 On agents and objects. Some remarks on Brentanian perception Perceptual saliences and nuclei of meaning Brentano and the thinkable From empirical psychology to pheno…
New Research on the Philosophy of Nicolai Hartmann
Social Time as a Multidimensional Category
The paper proposes to understand social time through the lens of two different multidimensional grids, one focused on the experience of time and therefore grounded in present perceptions and one focused on the interactions between the three temporal modes of past, present, and future
Complexity and social sciences
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to give an outline of the main topics of an introductory course in complexity and social sciences. Design/methodology/approach – This paper consists of a survey of the main issues and some of the classical literature for an audience with no background in philosophy of science, social philosophy, the literature on complex systems and social choice. Findings – In the didactical framework of the article, it wou…
Social foresight
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the three guiding ideas of the social foresight course, namely, the difference between abstract and concrete futures (i.e. the difference between risk and uncertainty); the three levels of futures studies (forecast, foresight and anticipation); and an overview of the early signs of the incipient shift of human and social sciences from their so-far predominant past-orientation to a new, still unfol…
Secondary analysis in the social sciences and its relation to futures studies
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show the importance of secondary analysis to social sciences and to futures studies, both for research and teaching purposes. Design/methodology/approach – An illustration of the main characteristics of secondary analysis, presenting it as a theory-driven activity where the definition of the research design plays a fundamental role. Findings – This paper extends the secondary analysis approach to the stud…
Mastering social foresight – introduction to the special issue
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is a presentation of the guiding ideas underlining the master degree course in social foresight recently launched by the University of Trento (Italy). Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a reconstruction of the guiding ideas that have been used for designing the social foresight master degree. Findings – Students are exposed to a mix of contributions from futures studies, the human and social sciences (…
System dynamics education: Becoming part of anticipatory systems
Purpose – This paper aims to present an overview of deep issues flanking the ideas of system and complexity, and an overview of the mentioned course as a proposal for systems thinking. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a discursive overview of systems and philosophical concepts related to the described course. Findings – The review offers a perspective of a super-system that includes the students, the lecturers and the context of t…
On the evaluation of public goods: Cognitive and emotional aspects
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework for the assessment of subjective value of public goods. Public goods are not traded, so they do not have market prices, even if they may be of great importance for the well-being of citizens (e.g. green spaces, urban air). A procedure used to estimate the economic value of a public good is the contingent evaluation method: people are asked to state how much they are willing…
The implicit future orientation of the capability approach
Ethical issues in futures studies: Theoretical development and applications
Anticipation: What about turning the human and social sciences upside down
Overcoming divides
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain why finding a theory for futures studies is such a demanding task. In particular, the paper paves the way towards a theoretical framework that goes beyond both positivism and anti‐positivism. Design/methodology/approach The paper discusses a network of mutually interlinked concepts, including: levels of reality; parts and wholes; causation; the multiplicity of times; anticipation; the thick present;…
A formal approach for designing creative futures based on C‐K theory
Purpose Despite an increasingly explicit professional nature, the futures studies field has suffered an increasing constraining to a collection of specific techniques. The purpose of this paper is to harness the foundational shortcomings of current futures studies methods, namely the lack of a well‐defined underpinning theory and of rigorous, rational, systematic, repeatable, traceable, documentable, and transferable method. It proposes a rigorou…
Universal perspectivism: Transcending “facta” and “futura” through foresight theory building
Purpose Contemporary foresight activities are increasingly dominated by commitment to research methods and an ambition to found a sound theory of futures thinking. Arguably, there has been a general failure to examine and explicate the relationship between theory and method. As Poli; Karlsen & Karlsen; Aaltonen; Inayatullah and others argue, there is both a need and a will to develop a substantial foundation of futures studies that not only goes …
Resilience: O utcome, P rocess, E mergence, N arrative ( Open ) theory
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to synthesize coherent theory that identifies and links the cognitive and structural elements in both the psychosocial and organizational dimensions of resilience. Design/methodology/approach The approach takes the form of the author's review of and reflections on the dynamics of resilience in living systems in general, and in humans in particular, drawing on seminal scholarly publications across trans‐discipl…
A theoretical frame for future studies
Purpose Future studies can be given several interpretations. The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology for anticipation in a well delimited frame, that of multi‐scale complex systems with a dynamic directed by the cooperation/competition between a net of agents, the “co‐regulators”, each operating with its own rhythm and logic, with the help of a central memory. These systems include social systems of different sizes from small social…
An introduction to the ontology of anticipation
Anticipation: What about turning the human and social sciences upside down
The challenges of futures literacy
Handbook of Futures Studies
This insightful Handbook emphasizes the unique contribution that Futures Studies offers when understanding and managing current situations. Contributing authors argue that by learning to examine the future in the present, individuals and organizations can expand their abilities to analyse, assess and ultimately make better decisions. Bringing together experts across an array of disciplines, this Handbook demonstrates the connections between Futur…
Social foresight
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the three guiding ideas of the social foresight course, namely, the difference between abstract and concrete futures (i.e. the difference between risk and uncertainty); the three levels of futures studies (forecast, foresight and anticipation); and an overview of the early signs of the incipient shift of human and social sciences from their so-far predominant past-orientation to a new, still unfol…
Polish Scientific Philosophy: The Lvov-Warsaw School
One can often encounter an opinion that Polish scientific (or analytic) philosophy (or the Lvov-Warsaw School) deserves to be much better known than actually is. This book is thought as a response to such a claim. The papers collected in this volume are divided into two parts: Background and Influence and History and Systematics. However, there is no sharp borderline between themes which are touched in both parts. Generally speaking, all papers o…
The implicit future orientation of the capability approach
Towards an ontology of the present moment
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose that conceptions of time and future that are currently in use restrict the possibilities for framing decision making. By privileging the notion of present moment over that of linear time, a more comprehensive framing of what it means to consider what influences our judgements. The ontology of the present moment provides a theoretical context for knowing what we can of the future in a more comprehens…
A note on the classification of future-related methods
If futures studies aims to become someday an autonomous field of research and application, it must prove that it contributes knowledge, methods, and viewpoints different from those distinctive of other already established fields. A futurist’s toolbox requires both collecting the methods that make futurists different from other academics and practitioners (without implying that futurists must limit themselves to those methods alone) and organizing…
Universal perspectivism: Transcending “facta” and “futura” through foresight theory building
Purpose Contemporary foresight activities are increasingly dominated by commitment to research methods and an ambition to found a sound theory of futures thinking. Arguably, there has been a general failure to examine and explicate the relationship between theory and method. As Poli; Karlsen & Karlsen; Aaltonen; Inayatullah and others argue, there is both a need and a will to develop a substantial foundation of futures studies that not only goes …
Overcoming divides
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain why finding a theory for futures studies is such a demanding task. In particular, the paper paves the way towards a theoretical framework that goes beyond both positivism and anti‐positivism. Design/methodology/approach The paper discusses a network of mutually interlinked concepts, including: levels of reality; parts and wholes; causation; the multiplicity of times; anticipation; the thick present;…
Complexity and social sciences
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to give an outline of the main topics of an introductory course in complexity and social sciences. Design/methodology/approach – This paper consists of a survey of the main issues and some of the classical literature for an audience with no background in philosophy of science, social philosophy, the literature on complex systems and social choice. Findings – In the didactical framework of the article, it wou…
System dynamics education: Becoming part of anticipatory systems
Purpose – This paper aims to present an overview of deep issues flanking the ideas of system and complexity, and an overview of the mentioned course as a proposal for systems thinking. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a discursive overview of systems and philosophical concepts related to the described course. Findings – The review offers a perspective of a super-system that includes the students, the lecturers and the context of t…
In Itinere: European Cities and the Birth of Modern Scientific Philosophy
The volume describes a virtual tour of the cities in which Franz Brentano and his pupils worked and lived, with a reconstruction of the intellectual climate of their time. After the Introduction, the intellectual life of Würzburg, Munich, Vienna, Prag, Lvov, Warsaw, Cambridge, Florence and Milan is presented and analyzed. The papers collected in this volume propose several answers to the following question: to what do we refer when we speak of Ce…
Polish Scientific Philosophy: The Lvov-Warsaw School
One can often encounter an opinion that Polish scientific (or analytic) philosophy (or the Lvov-Warsaw School) deserves to be much better known than actually is. This book is thought as a response to such a claim. The papers collected in this volume are divided into two parts: Background and Influence and History and Systematics. However, there is no sharp borderline between themes which are touched in both parts. Generally speaking, all papers o…
The School of Franz Brentano
Formal Ontology
Kazimierz Twardowski (1866–1938)
Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities: Contents of back issues
In Itinere: European Cities and the Birth of Modern Scientific Philosophy
The volume describes a virtual tour of the cities in which Franz Brentano and his pupils worked and lived, with a reconstruction of the intellectual climate of their time. After the Introduction, the intellectual life of Würzburg, Munich, Vienna, Prag, Lvov, Warsaw, Cambridge, Florence and Milan is presented and analyzed. The papers collected in this volume propose several answers to the following question: to what do we refer when we speak of Ce…
Logic, Theory of Science and Metaphysics According to Stanislaw Lesniewski
Formal aspects of reduplication
Aristotle’s presentation of ontology advanced at the beginning of the fourth book of Metaphysics is universally known: “there is a science which studies being qua being...”. Needless to say, this is a familiar sentence: unfortunately, it is also quite an odd one. Why Aristotle does not simply say that ontology is the theory of being? Is there any difference between ‘theory of being’ and ‘theory of being qua being’?In brief, the problem is to deci…
The Ontology of What Is Not There
After discussion of the mainstream definition of ontology, and a short analysis of the Aristotelian’s principles, the paper addresses the problem of the categorial nature of the future by distinguishing (a) possibility from potentiality and (b) forward from upward emergence.
The Order of Evils: Toward an Ontology of Morals
Theory and Applications of Ontology: Philosophical Perspectives
Theory and Applications of Ontology: Philosophical Perspectives
An introduction to the ontology of anticipation
Ontological Categories, Latents and the Irrational
The Philosophy of Nicolai Hartmann
Nicolai Hartmann was one of the most prolific and original, yet sober, clear and rigorous, 20th century German philosophers. Hartmann was brought up as a Neo-Kantian, but soon turned his back on Kantianism to become one of the most important proponents of ontological realism. He developed what he calls the “new ontology”, on which relies a systematic opus dealing with all the main areas of philosophy. His work had major influences both in philoso…
Philosophy of Nicolai Hartmann
Overcoming divides
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain why finding a theory for futures studies is such a demanding task. In particular, the paper paves the way towards a theoretical framework that goes beyond both positivism and anti‐positivism. Design/methodology/approach The paper discusses a network of mutually interlinked concepts, including: levels of reality; parts and wholes; causation; the multiplicity of times; anticipation; the thick present;…
A formal approach for designing creative futures based on C‐K theory
Purpose Despite an increasingly explicit professional nature, the futures studies field has suffered an increasing constraining to a collection of specific techniques. The purpose of this paper is to harness the foundational shortcomings of current futures studies methods, namely the lack of a well‐defined underpinning theory and of rigorous, rational, systematic, repeatable, traceable, documentable, and transferable method. It proposes a rigorou…
Universal perspectivism: Transcending “facta” and “futura” through foresight theory building
Purpose Contemporary foresight activities are increasingly dominated by commitment to research methods and an ambition to found a sound theory of futures thinking. Arguably, there has been a general failure to examine and explicate the relationship between theory and method. As Poli; Karlsen & Karlsen; Aaltonen; Inayatullah and others argue, there is both a need and a will to develop a substantial foundation of futures studies that not only goes …
Resilience: O utcome, P rocess, E mergence, N arrative ( Open ) theory
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to synthesize coherent theory that identifies and links the cognitive and structural elements in both the psychosocial and organizational dimensions of resilience. Design/methodology/approach The approach takes the form of the author's review of and reflections on the dynamics of resilience in living systems in general, and in humans in particular, drawing on seminal scholarly publications across trans‐discipl…
A theoretical frame for future studies
Purpose Future studies can be given several interpretations. The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology for anticipation in a well delimited frame, that of multi‐scale complex systems with a dynamic directed by the cooperation/competition between a net of agents, the “co‐regulators”, each operating with its own rhythm and logic, with the help of a central memory. These systems include social systems of different sizes from small social…
Towards an ontology of the present moment
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose that conceptions of time and future that are currently in use restrict the possibilities for framing decision making. By privileging the notion of present moment over that of linear time, a more comprehensive framing of what it means to consider what influences our judgements. The ontology of the present moment provides a theoretical context for knowing what we can of the future in a more comprehens…
Anticipation: What about turning the human and social sciences upside down
Complexity and social sciences
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to give an outline of the main topics of an introductory course in complexity and social sciences. Design/methodology/approach – This paper consists of a survey of the main issues and some of the classical literature for an audience with no background in philosophy of science, social philosophy, the literature on complex systems and social choice. Findings – In the didactical framework of the article, it wou…
Social foresight
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the three guiding ideas of the social foresight course, namely, the difference between abstract and concrete futures (i.e. the difference between risk and uncertainty); the three levels of futures studies (forecast, foresight and anticipation); and an overview of the early signs of the incipient shift of human and social sciences from their so-far predominant past-orientation to a new, still unfol…
Computer Science (29 works) · Epistemology (28 works) · Philosophy (23 works) · Sociology (16 works) · Artificial Intelligence (14 works) · Futures contract (14 works) · Economics (13 works) · Psychology (13 works) · Social science (11 works) · Complex Systems and Decision Making (10 works)