Editorial: Unpredictability, contingency and counterfactuals

Abstract

"While it has always been present in our everyday-life practices, counterfactual thinking currently stages a comeback as a scientific method. Of late, a renewed interest in counterfactuals can be witnessed in academic disciplines that have traditionally been suspicious of studying events or processes that have never happened (and will never happen). Is it mere coincidence that an impressive number of unconnected initiatives have started to re-discuss counterfactual thinking at the same time? Or are we living through times that somehow foster such a renewed interest in unpredictability, contingency and counterfactuals?" (author's abstract)