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OnUtopianism
VirusPerspective Term coined by Thomas More, derived from the latin meaning nowhere. His fictional account of Utopia was hedged with ambiguities, a confition that has plagued the subject to date. It can be argued that utopianism inherently leads to [UTistic] conditions, since passioned advocacy of a particular utopian position inevitably contains a denunciation of rival positions, thereby creating worldview utterly inimical to pluralism. Obvious examples of this include Stalin's Terror and the Thousand-Year Reich, Mao's Great Leap Forward and the killing fields of Cambodia. See [OnCommunism] and [OnFascism]. It may also be argued that one of the great problems with [religion] is that it frequently tends to be both utopian and totalising. Conversely, one of the particular advantages of democracy according to this view, is that it tends to be somewhat relativistic, necessiating acknowledgement of a number of rival positions. However, retreat into a conservative position that views any form of social change or even progress (a concept arguably equally disliked by left and right) would seem self defeating (See: [FriedrichHayek]). Accordingly, the Virian denunciation of [dogma] and advocacy of [Vision] would seem to present an attractive via media between these two concepts. Fictional treatments of utopian ideals have tended to address them as being necessarily dystopian, e.g. Orwell's 1984, Zamyatin's We, Huxley's Brave New World, and Atwood's Handmaid's Tale.
Last edited on Monday, January 20, 2003 10:32:07 am.
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