Existential Utopia: New Perspectives on Utopian Thought

ISBN-13: 9781441169211 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 192 str.

Michael Marder

Opis

Radical political thought of the 20th century was dominated by utopia, but the failure of communism in Eastern Europe and its disavowal in China has brought on the need for a new model of utopian thought. This book thus seeks to redefine the concept of utopia and bring it to bear on today's politics. The original essays, contributed by key thinkers such as Gianni Vattimo and Jean-Luc Nancy, highlight the connection between utopian theory and practice. The book reassesses the legacy of utopia and conceptualizes alternatives to the neo-liberal, technocratic regimes prevalent in today's world. It argues that only utopia in its existential sense, grounded in the lived time and space of politics, can distance itself from mainstream ideology and not be at the service of technocratic regimes, while paying attention to the material conditions of human life.
Existential Utopia offers a new and exciting interpretation of utopia in contemporary culture and a much-needed intervention into the philosophical and political discussion of utopian thinking that is both accessible to students and comprehensive.

Spis treści

Introduction. Utopia: A Political Ontology
Michael Marder and Patrícia Vieira

PART I: Utopia Unbound
1. In Place of Utopia
Jean-Luc Nancy
2. Utopia, Counter-Utopia, Irony
Gianni Vattimo
3. From Modern Utopias to Contemporary Uchronia
Alexandre Franco de Sá
4. Existential Utopia—Of the World, the Possible, the Finite
Michael Marder and Patrícia Vieira
5. Still / Encore
Márcia Cavalcante-Schuback
6. The Theater of Utopia: Deleuze On Acting and Politics
Cláudia Baracchi

 

PART II: Putting Utopia to Work
7. Ernst Bloch, Utopia and Ideology Critique
Douglas Kellner
8. Secularism and Post-Secularism in Roberto Unger and Ernst Bloch: Towards a Utopian Ontology
Ruth Levitas
9. At the End of Utopia—Indifference
Josep Ramoneda
10.  History, Politics, and Utopia: Towards a Synthesis of Social Theory and Practice
Laurence Davis
11.  A Practical Utopia for the Twenty-First Century
Robert Albritton

 

Notes
Bibliography