The dangers of Utopia

2018

This chapter traces the problem of evil in utopia from Thomas More to the Marquis de Sade. Utopian thought recognizes human imperfection and the basic dualism in human nature. Utopias are discourses on human nature and the possibility of a better human society rather than simply blueprints of perfection, indeed they imagine 'an imperfect utopia, or, differently put, a utopia suited for imperfect creatures.' The question that arises in utopian thought is not if evil exists but how to deliver us from evil. *** Know then thyself, presume not God to scan The proper study of mankind is man (Alexander Pope, Essay on Man) One of the primary preoccupations of utopian thought is the relationship between the individual and society. Thus, 'to know thyself', including one's propensity for good and evil and to study 'mankind' is the necessary foundation for utopian thinking and a continuous process towards better statesmanship: Once he [the human being] has grasped himself and established what is his, without expropriation and alienation, in real democracy, there

IASET, 2021

Eco literature not only showcase Nature and its intricate aspects, but this paper also aims to show how a dystopia arises from what initially seems a noble idea for creating an ideal Utopian society. The original idea of a utopian society was born out of Old Major's and Watson's dream and carried out. The problem of governance emerges first as they start to abuse their position as leaders. The education of proves difficult, which makes them liable to manipulation by Fear, a typical mechanism of totalitarian societies, is used throughout the novels to prevent mutiny. The fight for power between two leaders enables the creation of the ultimate enemy and further manipulation which leads to the establishment of a totalitarian society. Directives are broken one by one, and animals start trade-offs, and they forsake their individuality and equanimity and are unable to think for themselves because the definition of freedom is tarnished. Alleged traitors are slaughtered by the government but suffers are still unable to comprehend the seriousness of the situation they live in.

Kybernetes, 2020

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate mathematically the impossibility of achieving a utopian society. Demonstrate that any attempt to correct deviations from a hypothetical trajectory whose ultimate goal is the utopia, increasingly demands more work, including measures that lead to terror, which may even be absolute, leading to the horrible paradox that in seeking paradise hell is constructed. Design/methodology/approach-Scientific tools that the authors have used are: the theory of the system linkage, alysidal algebra, kinematic theory and vector analysis. Findings-Myths are the substrate of some complex systems of beliefs and utopia is its ultimate goal. The use of the combination of the theory of trajectories, belonging to the alysidal algebra, the theorem of unintended effects and kinematics theory provides an approximation to deviations suffering utopian ideological currents and their corrections. Originality/value-This paper is a continuation of other previous papers developing the theory of complex societies. Paper type Research paper Fundamentally, freedom and tyranny cannot be considered in isolation, although we observe them succeeding each other in time. It can clearly be said that tyranny suppresses and eliminates freedom-but, on the other hand, tyranny is only possible where freedom has been domesticated and has evaporated into vacuous concepts. (E. Jünger)

A brief essay on Nathanial Hawthorne's "Blithedale Romance" expressing the imperfection of humanity.

Filozofski vestnik, 2017

The 500th anniversary of the first edition of Thomas More's Utopia was accompanied by a seemingly inexhaustible wave of discussions, conferences, and publications on utopianism and its innumerable well-and less-known forms. All this buzz around the topic showed, on the one hand, that there is plenty of interest in utopia at the beginning of the 21st century, most notably in academia given that utopian studies are thriving, and researchers are publishing books and articles on a regular basis. On the other hand, however, at least in developed countries, there has been a growing tendency toward dystopia for the last couple of decades, and utopia became predominantly a pejorative word-a way to insult someone for his or her political orientation.

The Encyclopedia of Political Science, 2011

2005

THE SENTENCE ABOVE is from William Burroughs’ novel The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead (Burroughs, 1969, 142). The whole book is highly political, though of course not in the mainstream sense of politics: who, for instance, will be the next president of this or that country. In fact, this latter sense of ‘political’ is a miserable caricature of what it should be, though a caricature with often nefarious consequences. The nefarious nature of such consequences clearly showed itself on a worldwide scale during the last four years of American governance, and it will become even more resonant and clear after the recent US presidential elections, for we are now advancing into a zone and a time of great danger, into the dark of the sleep of reason, where the secular and enlightened endeavors by means of which we grew out of barbarism (as Leopardi says) will be completely annihilated and monstrous forms of thought, or more poignantly of non-thought, will emerge instead. The recent events in ...

Office phone: 517-607-2724 Office: Kendall 406 Office hours: Monday 11:00-12:00, Wednesday 9:30-10:30 and 3:30-5:00, Friday 2:30-3:30; and by appointment "The bounds of the possible in moral matters are less narrow than we think-it is our weaknesses, our vices, our prejudices that constrict them. Base souls do not believe in great men; vile slaves smile mockingly at the word freedom." -Jean-Jacques Rousseau "For if one really believes that such a [final] solution is possible, then surely no cost would be too high to obtain it: to make mankind just and happy and creative and harmonious forever-what could be too high a price to pay for that? To make such an omelette, there is surely no limit to the number of eggs that should be broken…." -Isaiah Berlin "But perhaps…there is a model of [the just city] in the heavens, for anyone who wants to look at it and to make himself its citizen on the strength of what he sees." -Plato

In What’s New in the New Europe? Redefining Culture, Politics, Identity;. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego., 2019

Utopia is indiscriminately charged with pathologies such as teleology and stability in much contemporary political-philosophical literature. Yet, a closer conceptual examination of utopia shows that there is no compelling argument about utopia being intrinsically linked to such pathologies. Therefore, I argue, conceptions of utopia that justifiably invite such charges are projections of epochal, indeed, specifically modern, understandings of the notion. The static and teleological semantic contents of the term are in no way indispensable. In other words, if we ask again the question about what is and is not utopia and whether utopia is comprehensible and theorizable without predicates of teleology and stability, we will come up with a reconceptualization of utopia that challenges modern framings of the notion. In this paper, I deal with such questions and explore why utopia is not inescapably unrealizable, teleological and finalist, too determinate and, consequently, tyrannical. Drawing from relevant sources (I rely mainly on Marianna Papastephanou’s theory and I show its relevance to such conceptualization), I take issue with those thinkers who, in the effort to stave off bad utopianism, resort to defining utopia as empty of content or as exclusively processual. I side with those sources which consider a degree of determinacy important for conceptual, explanatory, justificatory and normative reasons.