Some critics have seen The Foundation Trilogy as an endorsement of historical determinism, a popular concept in the 1930s that viewed individuals as caught in the grip of forces beyond their control.

Yet the trilogy's outlook is more reflective of the scientific optimism also prevalent in the 1930s; the work portrays a universe where economic disorder or the rise of barbarian warlords can be corrected with the application of reason, science, and technology. The Foundation, established on the planet Terminus, is an island of scientific knowledge in a crumbling Galactic Empire. Its ability to triumph over warlords, bureaucrats, powerful mutants, and even its own irrationality expresses the hope that reason can triumph over impossible odds.