Societies of the Possible

This chapter uses the core concepts of position, perspective, and dialogue to analyze the workings of society. From this standpoint, we cannot conceive the possible outside of a societal framework given the fact that societies, all over the world and across historical time, comprise a variety of positions and, through the accumulation and transmission of culture, allow the development of perspectives, including on society itself. At the same time, societies are constantly transformed by the sense of possibility that fuels social change, activism, and the imaginative construction of the future in utopias and dystopias. Democratic systems, built on plurality and dialogue, tend in principle to expand the possible for individuals and communities adopting them. And yet democracies, as both a form of government and a way of living, are inherently fragile. In the end, societies of the possible are both an ontological condition for human communal living and a reality that should not be taken for granted.

The Possible

The first chapter discusses different meanings of the possible and advances the sociocultural approach to this phenomenon that will be developed throughout the book. It offers a brief review of existing theories and research into possibility, grouped under three main headlines: beings of the possible, thinking about the possible, and explorations of the future. These suggest that work on the possible is multidisciplinary in nature and that possibility studies have the potential to emerge as a new paradigm capable of transforming the humanities and social sciences. In the end, the main sources and steps of the argument in the book are introduced, from difference, perspectives, and perspectival worlds to the meta-position and dialogue, including their applications in education and in society.

Dialogue

This chapter examines the kinds of perspectival dialogue that often emerge out of meta-positions. Meta-positions make us sensitive to the fact that there are more positions and perspectives to consider in any given situation, and perspectival dialogues help us connect positions and their perspectives in a productive manner. The notion of dialogue is useful to conceptualize the ways in which perspectives relate to each other as perspectives rather than absolute truths. Being in dialogue is marked by both addressivity and emergence, characterized by a dynamic balance between immersion and detachment and expressed in the two interrelated movements of integrating and differentiating perspectives. These characteristics, on the one hand, point us to the sociocultural origin of perspectival dialogues and, on the other, reinforce the idea that there is always a surplus to be gained when engaging in perspectival dialogues.

Perspectives

This chapter goes further in connecting the previous discussion about differences and intersubjectivity with the notions of positions and perspectives. While former reflect our physical, social, and symbolic grounding in the world, the latter capture our action-based relation to the world, always developed from a given position. As action orientations, perspectives “meet” (or fail to meet) affordances, or action potentials. The elaboration of our perspectives and the discovery of affordances are ultimately embedded in culture and require both material and symbolic mediation. This dynamic has deep consequences for our understanding and sense of possibility. The possible emerges in and through action whenever we become aware of multiple perspectives on the same reality and, in doing so, explore less conventional (or previously unperceived) affordances. In the end, the multiplicity of positions and perspectives, originating in difference and enabled by culture, becomes a condition of possibility.

The Meta-Position

This chapter proposes that adopting a meta-position in regard to reality is instrumental for opening up the possible and constitutes the first step toward exploring it. In psychological terms, a meta-position is represented by that symbolic (and/or physical) standpoint from which other positions and the relations between them can be perceived at once. The fact that meta-positions render existing positions and perspectives visible makes them essential for developing more open ways of thinking about the world and more flexible ways of acting on it. Meta-positions accomplish this important role through their relation to agency, wonder, imagination, and creativity, each of which is discussed in the chapter. Together with difference and multiplicity, meta-positions are thus conditions of possibility for becoming aware of and acting on the possible.

Perspectival Worlds

This chapter argues that worlds of difference and culture are, by necessity, perspectival. This defining feature is supported by the polysemic uses of language and the open-ended nature of narratives. It is enhanced by the existence of various groups, communities, and relations between them, leading to a plurality of social representations. It is reflected in the state of cognitive polyphasia and the reflective dialogues we establish between different, sometimes even opposing, perspectives. Finally, it is supported by forms of engagement with our material environment that alternate between the use of things, objects, and artifacts. In all these instances, the world is discovered as perspectival and experienced as such. At the same time, perspectival worlds should not be taken for granted. There are active forces within them, fueled by power and inequalities within society, that make certain perspectives disappear and others gain a hegemonic position as a “view from nowhere.”

The Impossible

This final chapter addresses the question of what might be the opposite of the possible. The impossible emerges as a likely candidate, but a closer inspection of this notion reveals the fact that we can and do develop perspectives on what we consider impossible. As such, a distinction needs to be made between what is impossible to think about (the unthinkable) and what is impossible to do (the undoable). The former, rather than the latter, marks the absolute absence of possibility. However, in line with the sociocultural theory put forward in the book, the chapter proposes the notion of the “non-possible” as a more appropriate counterpart of the possible and describes it as the imposition of singular, hegemonic perspectives that do not recognize difference or allow dialogues to emerge. Some final thoughts about how spaces of possibility can be cultivated are offered toward the end of the chapter.

Pedagogies of the Possible

This chapter examines how the theory of the possible plays out in education in the form of constructing and enacting what the author calls “pedagogies of the possible.” This kind of pedagogy is fundamentally oriented toward the development of new possibilities through the cultivation of open, reflective, and critical forms of engagement with others and their different perspectives. There are both societal and ethical underpinnings supporting this type of engagement, as reflected in acts of resistance and emancipation. It is an education dedicated to making us sensitive to marginal groups and marginal positions within society and their struggle for recognition. Pedagogies of the possible thrive particularly on dialogues with these other positions and perspectives. It is within this space of dialogue and reflexivity that education gains its transformative power and society can be reimagined and recreated.

Difference

This chapter proposes difference as an engine of possibility, in particular self–other differences. The presentation starts with a discussion of developmental trajectories defining our awareness of differences and our reaction to them from an early age. This developmental perspective raises a concern for intersubjectivity or the constitution of the self through engagement with the difference of others. It is important that, in the process of establishing intersubjective bounds, the “otherness” of the other is not fully appropriated by the self but leaves space for surprise, new understandings, and, with them, new possibilities. These reflections shed a new light on discussions of diversity: its benefits but also the challenges it poses in today’s fragmented, polarized world. In summary, this chapter outlines the notion of differences in perspective as fundamental to becoming aware of and exploring an expanded field of possibilities for both self and other.