Title: (Im)Plausibility²

Authors: Alfred Nordmann

Addresses: Institut für Philosophie, Technische Universität Darmstadt, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany

Abstract: The paper offers a general conceptual analysis of 'plausibility' that illustrates the difficulties of assigning meaning and of operationalising the term in respect to any given real or imagined world. It goes on to show how the problem is compounded for 'plausibility²' or 'plausibility squared', that is, for judgments of what is plausible in an imagined world that is more or less plausibly assumed to be the successor to a given world - as would be the case for any scenario of the future. In conclusion, some implications for innovation studies and technology assessment will be suggested.

Keywords: plausibility; technology assessment; anticipation; futures; scenario methods; foresight; innovation studies.

DOI: 10.1504/IJFIP.2013.058612

International Journal of Foresight and Innovation Policy, 2013 Vol.9 No.2/3/4, pp.125 - 132

Received: 18 Dec 2012
Accepted: 25 Sep 2013
Published online: 28 Feb 2014 *

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