FIVE STAGES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF FUTUROLOGY AS A SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE: FROM PREHISTORY TO THE PRESENT

Futurology as a whole is a generalized name for a set of concepts about the future of the planet, humanity, processes and phenomena based on scientific knowledge and forecasts. Futurology is often understood as a «history of the future» or, as O. Fletheim suggested, a «philosophy of the future», which will be an alternative to ideologies. The relevance of the research lies in the comprehensive consideration of the history of the development and transformation of futurology as a scientific discipline. Objective is to reveal and briefly cha-racterize the key ideas, concepts and events of the main stages of the development of futurology. Methods: analysis and generalization of scientific literature, problem-focused comparison of theoretical concepts. Results. The study showed that five main stages can be distinguished in the history of futurology: prehistory (late XIX – early XX century), origin (mid-1940s – mid-1960s), the emergence of basic concepts and institutions (second half of the 1960s – early 1990s), systematization of knowledge (beginning 1990s – 2010s) and the modern stage (the last 10–15 years). The specific features characteristic of each of the stages are revealed, the concepts and ideas of the main thinkers and scientists who are considered classics of futu-rology are indicated. Conclusions. Over the history of the development of scientific research of the future, a sufficient number of ideas and concepts that need to be developed have been formulated and taken into account in the process of both theoretical reflections on the prospects of humanity and during the development and implementation of various projects to improve the surrounding reality. The main problems of our time that require solutions based on futurology can be considered: 1) uncontrolled development of technologies; 2) dehumanization of all spheres of life and the dominance of economic interests; 3) globalization as a total unification. These and other problems maximally actualize the general philosophical, holistic, and not a narrowly sectoral approach in modern futurology.