The Paradigmatic Profile of Futures Studies: From Reading to Representation of Integral Futures

Futures studies is now present in scientific spheres as an independent and structured field of study and forms the basis of strategic studies and investigations. Futures studies is the science of intelligent analysis, exploration, designing and building of future and therefore is rooted in human prudence system and emphasizes the conscious and proactive engineering, creation and restructuring of future. Futures studies, and the key issue of future discovery and shaping, is conducted through basic fundamentals, principles and rules which are reflected on cogent theoretical and conceptual frameworks called paradigms. These paradigms manage the organization of observations, framing of perceptions and orientation of actions. Having based on a descriptive-analytical methodology, the present paper explains the concept and logic of paradigms, and then reads the conventional paradigms of futures studies, namely positivist, evolutionary and critical paradigms. Finally, the emerging paradigm of integral futures is mapped and processed. The paradigmatic shift and transition led to the emergence of the integral futures denotes the capacity development of futures studies in problem-tackling and its evolution into a meta-natural field of study.