Abstract
This entry focuses on the relationship between mobility and possibility and postulates that movement – physical and psychological – underpins the possible and its exploration in individuals and in society. This basic argument is supported by a brief examination of objects and inventions on the move throughout prehistory, the circulation of ideas in past and present societies, the mobility of people within and between national boundaries, and the movements of the mind, expressed as episodes of daydreaming and imagination. In each case, potential and actualized forms of mobility support the expression of possibility-expanding phenomena such as creativity and innovation. But this relation is neither linear nor easy to unpack. Less mobile lives can be lived very creatively, just as constant travelling can be disempowering and reduce one’s agency. Final reflections are offered on the interplay between (im)possibility and (im)mobility and the way it shapes human existence.
Keywords
- Movement
- New mobilities
- Creativity
- Imagination
- Innovation
- Migration
- Diffusion
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Glăveanu, V.P. (2020). Mobility. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_165-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_165-1
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