Imagination to Power: A Philosophical Reflection on the Invention of Possible Worlds

Abstract

The imagination of possible worlds has experienced a true resurgence in philosophy and the social sciences over the past decade. However, is this really a practice of resistance carried out by critical thinking, or are we instead witnessing the quintessential strategy by which traditional thinking has colonized the future and shaped our present? To answer this question, the author offers a brief historical and philosophical reflection to understand the roots of this speculative practice. Among other conclusions, the author suggests that the imagination of possible futures has been one of the fundamental tools through which the economic and geopolitical rationality of the 20th century has quietly shaped our present.