Opportunities, language, and time

Opportunity has different meanings in entrepreneurial practice and academic scholarship, entwined with the distinct activities of dealing with practical contingencies and capturing theoretical necessities. The language and time of an academic stance sidestep defining aspects of the entrepreneurial experience: its indeterminate situations, instrumental role of language, and role of knowledge as guide to action. Seeking attunement with these aspects, the paper outlines the evolution of opportunity from language dependence to language independence within a process of transition from individual aspirations to social structure. This opens up promising research directions, in which the scholar-entrepreneur relationship is redefined in terms of solidarity rather than objectivity. Alongside the traditional emphasis on theoretical contribution, research could seek design and phronetic contributions, in an open-ended search for better ideas for coping with a contingent reality.