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|  chetmo | May 8, 5:35am | I suspect that, inside me, is a rich essay about the "Utopia" genre, and how they are all ultimately dystopian in nature... It's my belief that all fictional utopias rely on the conceit that all humans can shed their cultural baggage and adopt the mores of a new hegemony peacefully.
This is a false premise, as it is dependent upon a mutability of individual identity, a blatant disregard for the importance of ritual in maintaining communal identity (though, oddly enough, the author will rely on the importance of ritual in creating community identity...), and the creation of an opposing culture or "Coventry" to represent all that the utopian society rejects... Can a utopia be a "heaven" for all, if there must be a "hell" to cast the unbelievers into?
Given consideration, every supposed "Utopia" is eventually exposed as totalitarian politics. It's true of Plato, More, and even Skinner..
I'm left with Voltaire's advice that the path to happiness lies in tending one's own garden... |
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Sponsor |  Thomas-Jefferson | May 8, 9:37am | Not my happiness. I need universal happiness thru harmonious thriving excellence.
Solitaire might suffice for introverts, but humans are a social animal, so I doubt it would for long. |
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Sponsor | | Thomas-Jefferson | May 8, 10:01pm | | I don't see how reading Candide would help anything. |
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Sponsor | | Thomas-Jefferson | May 9, 10:13am | seems a rather implausible and tiresome book, but the conclusion is acceptable ("We must cultivate our garden").
Misfortune and the Goodness of God can be reconciled if one takes into account free will and karma. |
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Anarchy → Discussion