{"id":2045,"date":"2013-10-12T21:45:34","date_gmt":"2013-10-13T02:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/?p=2045"},"modified":"2013-10-12T21:45:34","modified_gmt":"2013-10-13T02:45:34","slug":"what-is-utopia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/2013\/10\/12\/what-is-utopia\/","title":{"rendered":"What is utopia?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been thinking about what counts as utopian in my research site, and happened to come across a handy definition by Ren\u00e9 Sch\u00e9rer, now an emeritus professor. It’s from an interview, “Utopia as a way of living<\/a>“, that appeared in in l’Humanit\u00e9<\/em> in 2007.<\/p>\n

Je d\u00e9finis l\u2019utopie comme de l\u2019ordre du non-r\u00e9alisable mais cela n\u2019emp\u00eache pas de la penser et de vouloir la faire \u00eatre. La pens\u00e9e utopique est tr\u00e8s r\u00e9aliste car elle s\u2019appuie sur des choses incontestablement r\u00e9elles, c\u2019est-\u00e0-dire les sentiments, les passions, les attractions mais sans se pr\u00e9occuper des moyens de la faire \u00eatre. Par exemple, Fourier parle de travail attrayant. \u00c0 l\u2019heure actuelle, il est peut-\u00eatre impossible d\u2019avoir un travail attrayant. N\u2019emp\u00eache que cette id\u00e9e doit \u00e0 tout prix \u00eatre maintenue. Le fait de donner \u00e0 chacun des occupations selon ses d\u00e9sirs, de ne pas mobiliser quelqu\u2019un sur une unique activit\u00e9 mais de diversifier toutes ces participations aux travaux, c\u2019est irr\u00e9alisable. Mais on doit maintenir cette utopie contre vents et mar\u00e9es sous peine de perdre le sens m\u00eame de la vie. Je ne pense pas que l\u2019utopie soit une projection vers l\u2019avenir mais c\u2019est un mode de vivre. \u00c0 tout moment, il faut ouvrir dans sa propre vie d\u2019autres possibles. M\u00eame si on ne les r\u00e9alise pas, cela \u00e9vite d\u2019\u00eatre bloqu\u00e9 \u00e0 l\u2019int\u00e9rieur d\u2019une sorte de fatalit\u00e9. Il faut r\u00e9sister \u00e0 une fatalit\u00e9 historique.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I define utopia as the order of the unrealizable, but that doesn’t prevent thinking it and wanting to bring it into being. Utopian thought is quite realist, since it draws on incontestably real things, that is, feelings, passions, attractions; but without worrying about the means for bringing it into being. For example, Fourier talks about worthwhile [attractive] work. At this point in time, it’s perhaps impossible to have worthwhile work. But this idea must still be maintained at all costs. The fact of giving everyone an occupation corresponding to her desires, of not recruiting someone into one single activity but of diversifying all one’s involvements in labor: it’s unrealizable. But one must maintain this utopia, come what may, or else risk losing life’s very meaning. I don’t think that utopia is a projection towards the future; it’s a way of living. At every moment, one must open up other possibilities within one’s life. Even if one doesn’t realize them, this prevents you from being blocked within a sort of fatalism. Historical fatalism must be resisted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Two points here are important to stress. 1) Utopianism isn’t necessarily affirmative. Indeed, what makes something utopian is that it rejects something about the present: it is necessarily a critique of the present. 2) It needn’t project a wish for a whole entire “new society,” not be centered around a futurism; it can center around something smaller-scale, something in the here and now. For instance, the desire to have an attractive or worthwhile job.<\/p>\n

Alas, even this more modest utopianism isn’t always easy to realize in the course of everyday life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been thinking about what counts as utopian in my research site, and happened to come across a handy definition by Ren\u00e9 Sch\u00e9rer, now an emeritus professor. It’s from an interview, “Utopia as a way of living“, that appeared in in l’Humanit\u00e9 in 2007. Je d\u00e9finis l\u2019utopie comme de l\u2019ordre du non-r\u00e9alisable mais cela n\u2019emp\u00eache […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[488,493,500],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/decasia.org\/academic_culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}