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In Defense of Utopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Lyman Tower Sargent
Lyman Tower Sargent*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Missouri-St Louis

Abstract

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Even though utopias are potentially dangerous, we nonetheless need utopian visions. Loss of hope and utopia means loss of humanity. But how can we stop utopia turning into dystopia? Utopia thought of in terms of perfection, purity and exclusivity imposes its version of a better life as the only possible one. On the other hand the utopianism of opposition does not seek perfection, or removal of opportunities for evolution. Its goal is progress and not repression of human beings. It is not utopianism that is at fault, the problem arises rather from the conviction that a particular utopia can bring about the only correct way to live.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , February 2006 , pp. 11 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2006

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