Speculation can consist of a financial operation that seeks to generate income from price variations.
Speculation is the action and effect of speculating (getting lost in a hypothesis without a real basis, reflecting deeply, carefully recording something to examine it). The term comes from the Latin speculatĭo .
For example: “We think it is likely that he left to avoid paying his debts, although this is just speculation” , “According to my speculations, the waters should recede in the next forty-eight hours” , “A scientist "You should never be guided by mere speculation."
Speculation in journalism
Within the world of journalism, sometimes media professionals speculate about a certain fact, until they obtain evidence and sources that certify the information they have obtained.
This action brings with it the emergence of diverse and varied theories about a certain issue. The concrete thing is that a speculation can be right or wrong.
The term in economics
The concept is also used on an economic level, although in a pejorative sense. Speculation, in this area, is a commercial or financial operation that is carried out with merchandise or securities with the objective of obtaining profit from price variations or changes in other variables.
The speculator does not intend to make use of the good he acquires, since his only objective is to take advantage of price fluctuations. That is why it is not involved in the management of the purchased goods either. The speculator's will is to buy at one price and sell at a higher price.
Speculation, therefore, is based on forecasting and an analysis of price developments. This practice is frowned upon at a social level since speculators can force prices to rise or fall above their real value (by artificially increasing demand or sales).
Real estate speculation is based on market fluctuations.
Real estate speculation and philosophy
All this without forgetting what is called real estate speculation and which is the action carried out by any person who is dedicated to selling and buying real estate with the clear objective of, taking advantage of market fluctuations, then reselling them and obtaining numerous benefits. .
For philosophy , speculation is the intellectual process that allows the dialectical resolution of those contradictions that appear in a higher order unity.
The concept in entertainment and literature
We cannot forget either that "Speculation" is the name of one of the best-known games that exists in the United Kingdom and the United States . Specifically, it became popular and expanded during the 19th century thanks to the numerous bets it managed to establish from a card game.
In the field of literature we have to establish that the term speculation is also used. More precisely, it is used to create the concept of speculative fiction , which defines a whole set of genres that have fantasy as an essential element.
This means, therefore, that within it we find horror, science fiction or uchronia, which would be the alternative historical novel, among others. In this way, works such as “The Lord of the Rings” by JRR Tolkien would be considered works of speculative fiction; “A Midsummer Night's Dream” by William Shakespeare ; or “Hippolytus” by Euripides .