In recognition of Funtowicz and Ravetz’s collaborative contributions to Futures

In this editorial introduction to the special article collection of Funtowicz and Ravetz's co-authored contributions to Futures, we survey key themes from these papers, including their approach to complex and emergent systems, the distinctions between different forms of knowledge production that reflect knowledge of specific kinds of systems, and the role of the concepts of quality and illusion in understanding the entropic tendencies of emergent systems - among which Funtowicz and Ravetz place postmodernism. • Summarises the four articles that Silvio Funtowicz and Jerome Ravetz published together in Futures . • Examines themes relating to the epistemology and ontology of futures. • Discusses connections between Funtowicz and Ravetz’s theoretical treatment of systems. (from simple to emergent) and their account of post normal science.