Utopias: A Brief History from Ancient Writings to Virtual Communities PDF
Preview Utopias: A Brief History from Ancient Writings to Virtual Communities
Utopias WILEY-BLACKWELL BRIEF HISTORIES OF RELIGION SERIES Thisseriesoffersbrief,accessible,andlivelyaccountsofkeytopics withintheologyandreligion.Eachvolumepresentsbothacademic and general readers with a selected history of topics which have had a profound effect on religious and cultural life. The word ‘‘history’’ is, therefore, understood in its broadest cultural and social sense. The volumes are based on serious scholarship but they are written engagingly and in terms readily understood by general readers. Other topicsin the series: Published Heaven AlisterE.McGrath Heresy G.R.Evans Death DouglasJ.Davies Saints LawrenceS.Cunningham Christianity CarterLindberg Dante PeterS.Hawkins Spirituality PhilipSheldrake CultsandNewReligions DouglasE.CowanandDavidG.Bromley Love CarterLindberg ChristianMission DanaL.Robert ChristianEthics MichaelBanner Jesus W.BarnesTatum Shinto JohnBreenandMarkTeeuwen Paul RobertPaulSeesengood Apocalypse MarthaHimmelfarb Islam2ndEdition TamaraSonn TheReformation KennethG.Appold Utopias A Brief History from Ancient Writings to Virtual Communities Howard P. Segal Thiseditionfirstpublished2012 (cid:1)2012HowardP.Segal BlackwellPublishingwasacquiredbyJohnWiley&SonsinFebruary2007.Blackwell’s publishingprogramhasbeenmergedwithWiley’sglobalScientific,Technical,andMedical businesstoformWiley-Blackwell. RegisteredOffice JohnWiley&SonsLtd,TheAtrium,SouthernGate,Chichester,WestSussex, PO198SQ,UK EditorialOffices 350MainStreet,Malden,MA02148-5020,USA 9600GarsingtonRoad,Oxford,OX42DQ,UK TheAtrium,SouthernGate,Chichester,WestSussex,PO198SQ,UK Fordetailsofourglobaleditorialoffices,forcustomerservices,andforinformation abouthowtoapplyforpermissiontoreusethecopyrightmaterialinthisbookplease seeourwebsiteatwww.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell. TherightofHowardP.Segaltobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkhasbeenassertedin accordancewiththeUKCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem, ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording orotherwise,exceptaspermittedbytheUKCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,without thepriorpermissionofthepublisher. Wileyalsopublishesitsbooksinavarietyofelectronicformats.Somecontentthatappearsin printmaynotbeavailableinelectronicbooks. Designationsusedbycompaniestodistinguishtheirproductsareoftenclaimedastrademarks. Allbrandnamesandproductnamesusedinthisbookaretradenames,servicemarks, trademarksorregisteredtrademarksoftheirrespectiveowners.Thepublisherisnotassociated withanyproductorvendormentionedinthisbook.Thispublicationisdesignedtoprovide accurateandauthoritativeinformationinregardtothesubjectmattercovered.Itissoldonthe understandingthatthepublisherisnotengagedinrenderingprofessionalservices.If professionaladviceorotherexpertassistanceisrequired,theservicesofacompetent professionalshouldbesought. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Segal,HowardP. Utopias:abriefhistoryfromancientwritingstovirtualcommunities/HowardP.Segal. pagescm– (Blackwellbriefhistoriesofreligion;44) ISBN978-1-4051-8328-4(pbk.)–ISBN978-1-4051-8329-1(hardcover) 1. Utopias–History. I. Title. HX806.S362012 335.8’3–dc23 2011049094 AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. Setin10/12.5ptMeridienbyThomsonDigital,Noida,India 1 2012 For my wife, Deborah D. Rogers, for our children, Richard William Rogers Segal and Raechel Maya Rogers Segal, and for our beloved shih-tzu, Toms Table of Contents Preface xi Introduction 1 1 The Nature of Utopias 5 Utopias Defined 5 Utopias Differ from both Millenarian Movements and Science Fiction 8 Utopias’ Spiritual Qualities are Akin to those of Formal Religions 9 Utopias’ Real Goal: Not Prediction of the Future but Improvementof the Present 12 How and When Utopias are Expected to be Established 13 2 The Varietyof Utopias 16 The Global Nature ofUtopias: Utopias arePredominantly but not ExclusivelyWestern 16 The Several Genres of Utopianism:Propheciesand Oratory, Political Movements,Communities, Writings,World’s Fairs, Cyberspace 24 3 The EuropeanUtopias and Utopiansand Their Critics 47 The PioneeringEuropean Visionaries and TheirBasic Beliefs: Plato’s Republic and More’sUtopia 47 Forgingthe Connections Between Science, Technology,and Utopia 50 The Pansophists 53 The Prophets ofProgress: Condorcet, Saint-Simon, and Comte 55 Dissenters fromthe Ideology of Unadulterated Scientific and Technological Progress:ThomasCarlyle,John Ruskin, and William Morris 58 The Expansive Visions of Robert Owen and Charles Fourier 60 The “Scientific”Socialismof KarlMarx and Friedrich Engels 66 4 The American Utopias andUtopians and Their Critics 74 America asUtopia: Potential and Fulfillment 74 The PioneeringAmerican Visionaries and theirBasic Beliefsin Americaas Land of Opportunity: John Adolphus Etzler,ThomasEwbank, and Mary Griffith 78 America as“Second Creation”:Enthusiasm and Disillusionment 81 5 GrowingExpectationsofRealizingUtopiainthe UnitedStatesandEurope 89 LaterAmerican Technological Utopians:John Macnie Through HaroldLoeb 89 UtopiaWithin Sight: The AmericanTechnocracy Crusade 96 UtopiaWithin Reach: “The Bestand the Brightest”—Post-WorldWar IIScience and TechnologyPolicy inthe United States and Western Europe and the Triumph of the Social Sciences 99 On MisreadingFrankenstein: How Scientific and Technological Advances have Changed Traditional Criticisms of Utopianism in the Twentiethand Twenty-First Centuries 123 viii TableofContents 6 UtopiaReconsidered 139 The Growing Retreat from Space Exploration and Other Megaprojects 139 NuclearPower: Its Rise, Fall,andPossible Revival—MaineYankeeas a Case Study 142 The Declining Belief inInventors,Engineers,and Scientists asHeroes; inExperts as Unbiased; and inScienceand Technologyas Social Panaceas 157 ContemporaryProphets for Profit: The Rise and Partial Fallof Professional Forecasters 160 Post-colonialCritiques of Western Science and Technologyas Measuresof “Progress” 169 7 The Resurgence ofUtopianism 186 The Major ContemporaryUtopians and Their Basic Beliefs 186 SocialMedia:Utopiaat One’sFingertips 193 RecentandContemporaryUtopianCommunities 194 The StarTrek Empire:ScienceFictionBecomesLess Escapist 199 Edutopia: GeorgeLucasand Others 203 The Fateof Books and Newspapers:Utopian and Dystopian Aspirations 217 8 The Future of Utopias andUtopianism 234 The “Scientific and Technological Plateau” and the Redefinition of Progress 234 Conclusion:Why UtopiaStill MattersTodayand Tomorrow 241 Further Reading 261 Index 269 TableofContents ix Preface I have long found serious, thoughtful utopias and utopians to be fascinating, important, and deserving of respect and inquiry. Iremainintriguedbywhatutopiasandutopianstellusaboutthe societies from which they derive and about how those societies might be changed, for better or for worse. In effect, utopianism functionslikeamicroscope:byfirstisolatingandthenmagnifying aspectsofexisting,non-utopiansocietiesallegedlyneedingdrastic improvements, it enables us to see more clearly their political, economic, cultural,and psychological mainstreams. Somestudentsofutopiascometothetopicbywayofpersonal experiences,suchastimespenteitherlivinginautopiancommu- nity or trying to perfect the world through political or social movements. In the interest of ‘‘full disclosure,’’ let me concede withoutanyapologiesthat,bycontrast,myinterestinutopiasis largely scholarly.Ihave neverheldanypassionatebeliefs inany remotelyutopianprojects,havenevercomposedanysupposedly utopian manifestoes or other visionary writings,and have never spent time in any self-proclaimed utopian communities or crusades.Iambynatureskeptical—ifnotcynical—aboutvisions andvisionariesthat claim moralandperhapsintellectualsuperi- ority over everything and everyone else.I cannotimagine being seducedbyanyutopiandreamorprophet.YetIremainfascinated bythosewhohavebeensoseducedandbythemanifestationsof their seductions. AsIwascompletingthisbook, Ihappenedtoreceivefrommy institution’sEmployeeAssistanceProgram—thatis,itscounseling service—a four-page pamphlet distributed to all employees entitled ‘‘Perfectionism: Too Much of a Good Thing.’’ The timing was ironic. These pamphlets on various topics appear every few months, and the intention—to alert employees to various issuesthatmightconfrontthem,theirfamilies,andtheirfriends— is certainly noble. Though hardly surprised by the uniformly negative tone of this critique of ‘‘perfectionism,’’ I was reminded of the generally unsympathetic reactions of many others over the years as I studied, wrote about, and presented papers on various aspects of utopianism. Since my Princeton graduate- school days, when I was contemplating writing my doctoral dissertation on some aspect of utopianism, far more often than notIhaveencounteredanimplicitifnotexplicitsenseofanxiety thatmykeeninterestinthetopicmightwellreflectsomekindof pathology. As set forth in the pamphlet and in countless earlier warnings from other mental health experts, the quest for ‘‘unreasonable standards’’ of whatever variety for either oneself or others can ‘‘wasteenormousamountsoftime’’betterspentonmorepleasant pursuits. One finds nothing in defense of the idealism likewise associatedthroughouthistorywith‘‘perfectionism.’’1But,WhileI cannotrefutethepamphlet’slistoftheharmfuleffectsof‘‘perfec- tionism’’—anxiety, misplaced anger, depression, obsessive com- pulsive disorders, eating disorders, chronic pain, and procrastination—what of the healthy and positive efforts to im- prove the world that have characterized the foremost utopian projectsandtheircreators?Oneneednotembracetheirsometimes na€ıve,misguidedschemestobemorebalancedinassessingutopias and utopians throughouthistory. Their refusal toaccept existing values,customs,institutions,andpoliciesisoftenadmirableifnot courageous. True, this book is not a formal moral assessment as such,butitdoesattempttotreatutopiasandutopians—andtheir critics—with fairness and respect. In researching and writing this book I was greatly assisted by SamaraGopan,ofBangor,Maine;byUniversityofMainehistory majorJasonPote;byMeloraNorman,LibrarianofUnityCollege xii Preface
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