ABSTRACT
Uncertainty is inherent in notions of the future. This debate with Steve Fuller and others considers two main principles of governance and of dealing with uncertainty: The precautionary and the proactionary principle. The precautionary principle stresses the limits that arise from being historically situated in a more or less sustainable present, whereas the proactionary principle takes the future as an open design space that allows us to question presumed limits. Some of the underlying questions are as follows: Can one speak of the future? Is the future an object of shaping or design? How should we deal with uncertainty? How can normativity enter in?
