Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Φιλοσοφία της Επιστήμης και της ΤεχνολογίαςLibrary of the School of Science
Author:
Tournikiotis Ioannis-Simos
Supervisors info:
Βάσω Κιντή, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Φιλοσοφίας της Επιστήμης, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Original Title:
Ο ΜΗΧΑΝΙΣΜΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΟΥΤΟΠΙΑΣ
Translated title:
THE MECHANISM OF UTOPIA
Summary:
Society itself may be considered as utopia while having its perfected form. Hence, utopia –etymologically a non place-, is located in nowhere˙ a fact that by definition makes it unreal. This non place often operates as an ideal model, that societies keen to replicate by having compared with it their dystopic present. However, as it derives from the Story of Utopias, utopia is not simply a measure of comparison between itself and a present dystopia, but it constitutes a mechanism that modifies reality, consciously or not, while aiming at an ideal society.
In this paper I will argue that discourse about utopia does not simply refers to a perfected form of society, but it also refers to a mechanism that modifies reality according to a model. This mechanism produces new forms of normativity, not there and elsewhere, but here and now.
In order to develop this claim, I will profit from classic utopian texts (literature) and, especially, Thomas More’s Utopia (1516), Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis (1627) and Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726).
Main subject category:
Science
Other subject categories:
Philosophy - Psychology
Keywords:
Utopia, Dystopia, Mechanism, Modification, Reality.
File:
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The Mechanism of Utopia. Yannis Tournikiotis.pdf
9 MB
File access is restricted only to the intranet of UoA.
