    Research Committee on Conceptual and Terminological Analysis
RC35  Programme Coordinators Volker H. Schmidt, National
University of Singapore, socvhs@nus.edu.sg David Strecker,
University of Jena, Germany, David.Strecker@uni-jena.de
Congress Programme   Sessions descriptions  Session 1:
Contingency and directionality Chair: Volker H. Schmidt,
National University of Singapore, socvhs@nus.edu.sg This session
will concern itself with a puzzling observation. On the one
hand, every social phenomenon, institution, structure, is
contingent in the sense that nothing forces them upon us, that
there is choice in both individual and collective action, that
alternate paths of development are possible (and often
realized), that nobody can predict the future with absolute
certainty – in short, that it is open rather than being fixed
and determined by the past. On the other hand, when adopting a
long term perspective and a historical viewpoint, we can also
discern powerful trends that seem to reflect a directed rather