Psychology Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Utopia: the imaginary design of a non-existent social state in literature or political discussion. While the utopia sketches a positive alternative to the present, the dystopia depicts a negative horror vision. Characteristic of utopias is the emphasis on their almost impossible realizability. See also politics, society, history._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Stephen Holmes on Utopia - Dictionary of Arguments
Krastev I 41 Utopia/Krastev/Holmes: (...)the ordinary pace of social evolution has today been greatly Krastev I 42 accelerated by technological innovation. And every resulting change in Western society yields a new image of what is normal for those who identify normality with life in the West. A revolution in the name of existing Western normality, therefore, faces a problem absent from revolutions in the name of some imagined utopia. It becomes impossible to fix or pin down the vision of society one is trying to recreate. This dilemma is especially acute for post-communist societies. That is because the West that the dissidents urged their fellow citizens to imitate in 1989 no longer exists today, three decades later. Their model society was the globally dominant and adamantly anti-communist West of the Cold War. But the very process that allowed the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to join the anti-communist West ensured that anti-communism would no longer be the West’s defining ideology._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
LawHolm I Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. The Common Law Mineola, NY 1991 Krastev I Ivan Krastev Stephen Holmes The Light that Failed: A Reckoning London 2019 |
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