Utopia

Utopia has been a word which evokes increasing fear in modernity, and yet, it seems unavoidable that some sort of utopian ideal guides our political actions. The revolutions incredibly important in the West for the establishment of liberal democracy would have not occurred were it not for utopian thinking, and at the same time, the definition of utopia signifies a state of affairs completely exempt from critique or improvement. If we are indeed living in a utopia, or at least living in a society which only has left to implement the utopian ideal of liberal democracy more fully, then how can it be said that intellectualism serves any role whatever? This is the fundamental paradox of utopian thinking and modernity, since our core liberal values encourage this sort of critical engagement in human affairs. ...