Human obsolescence is imminent. We are living through an era in which our activity is becoming less and less relevant to our well-being and to the fate of our planet. This trend toward increased obsolescence is likely to continue in the future, and we must do our best to prepare ourselves and our societies for this reality. Far from being a cause for despair, this is in fact an opportunity for optimism. Harnessed in the right way, the technology that hastens (...) our obsolescence can open us up to new utopian possibilities and enable heightened forms of human flourishing. (shrink)

The principal aim of my essay is to provide a selective description and positive evaluation of the development of Andrei Platonov's views in the 20th century from utopian communism through disillusioned cynicism to what I will call humanistic communalism. Now considered in Russia as one of its greatest writers, he articulated various highly significant ideas and issues – primarily philosophical but also political and psychological – concerning the viability of living within an indifferent, non-moral universe, an unprogressive, indeed oppressive, sociopolitical (...) system, and a recurrently tragic, ineluctably contingent life-world. As a result of this not uncommon intellectual and existential journey, Platonov mapped out a way of hopeful, enriching living based upon creative activity and upon communal relationships—for example, of friendship and love, supplemented by a resolute combination of patience and endurance. (shrink)

The good life: just how good could it be? A vision of the future, from the future.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic work of anarchist literature, _The Dispossessed_ (1974), is preoccupied with the issue of imprisonment. This is hardly surprising given anarchism’s longstanding critical engagement with the prison as state apparatus. For classical anarchists, the prison represents one of the most vile and visible examples of state repression. However, while the abolition of prisons constitutes one of the fundamental goals of anarchism, the alternatives put forth by classical anarchist thinkers risk perpetuating the underlying power relations of carceral (...) justice by encouraging social shaming and the policing of norms. The anarchist society of _The Dispossessed_ uses these techniques to discourage the accumulation of power in order to create an egalitarian society. Unfortunately, these same techniques encourage a conformity that hinders other anarchist values, such as creativity and individual self-determination. In essence, the anarchist society depicted in the novel replaces the literal prison with a different form of imprisonment—the social prison, which continues the repressive function of the state through different means. By creating an “ambiguous” anarchist utopia, Le Guin anticipates the critiques of classical anarchism formulated by poststructural and postmodern anarchist theorists. These critiques are most evident in the theme of imprisonment that threads throughout the novel. (shrink)

For the last few months the financial crisis is being widely discussed. However, it was foreseen some time ago by at least two people who named its deep causes. A philosopher of culture, Zygmunt Bauman, claims that a postmodern utopia of “morality without ethical code” makes it impossible to solve problems created by our era of “liquid modernity”. George Soros, an American currency speculator, stock investor, businessman, philanthropist, political activist, and a pupil of Karl Popper, maintains that the crisis (...) is a result of a victory of “transaction morality” over “morality of the open society”. The two diagnosis of the present crisis show that the process of deregulation of the economy should not lead to the point where ethics loses its normative functions. This is the lesson of the crisis. Capitalism must be ethical or none. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to recover the original intention of Thomas More in creating the fictional island depicted in his book Utopia. Drawing on Erasmus’ 1519 letter, the author suggests beginning with Book II and analysing it separately from Book I. This approach allows for an exploration of the tension between its eutopian and dystopian aspects. The claim that through its unique institutions (notably the abolition of private property) Utopia has successfully eliminated pride, deemed the root (...) of all social evils, is scrutinized and revised. While Utopians are neither. (shrink)

Este artículo presenta una visión histórica de la utopía social cristiana en la Edad Media.Se pone de presente que la praxis social y religiosa conducida por la Iglesiainstitucional en ese periodo de tiempo está relacionada con una crisis u ocaso de lautopía social cristiana, entendida ésta como la búsqueda de una sociedad en la queimpere la igualdad social y religiosa, que se rija por el principio de misericordia, y queesté abierta no sólo a los elegidos, sino a todos los sereshumanos, (...) con especial predilección por los pobres, como primeros destinatarios delmensaje cristiano. Se presenta la Edad Media como un periodo de tiempo que se guiópor una mentalidad religiosa y una praxis económica y social que ocultó la utopía, lacual resurgió en el humanismo y en algunas prácticas evangelizadoras en el NuevoMundo. (shrink)