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book1951–1993

Foundation Series

Disciplines:
science fiction/science fiction literature
fiction/political philosophy fiction

Summary

Isaac Asimov's science fiction series beginning in 1951, set over thousands of years as a mathematician develops psychohistory to guide civilization through the collapse of a galactic empire.

Core Contribution

Invented psychohistory as a fictional science — the mathematical prediction of mass human behavior — and used it to explore questions about whether history can be managed, whether institutions can survive their founders, and how power transitions across civilizations.

Historical Influences

Isaac Asimov

Intellectual Lineage

American Science Fiction Tradition Classical History Philosophy

Allied Works

Dune Hyperion The Left Hand of Darkness A Fire Upon the Deep

Contemporaries & Peers

Dune The Lord of the Rings Childhood's End

Minds Influenced

Frank Herbert Iain M. Banks

Intellectual Posterity

Psychohistory conceptFoundation as political science fiction template

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Foundation Series

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