Thinking Utopia: Steps Into Other WorldsJörn Rüsen, Michael Fehr, Thomas Rieger Berghahn Books, 2005 - 312 pages ". . . a highly readable and structured discussion about utopian thinking at the beginning of the 21st century . . . It is indeed fortunate that political scientists, historians, philosophers, art critics, and literary theorists have come together to share their thinking on utopia and utopian thought at this disastrous moment of human history, when many are asking if there is a future to which to look forward." - European Legacy After the breakdown of socialist and communist systems in the East, it became fashionable to declare the so-called "end of utopia" ("end of history," "end of narratives"). The authors of this volume do not share this view but think that it is time to rehabilitate utopian thought. The political concept of Utopia that has given its name to these transcendental projections onto the world has been too narrow to describe and analyze the moving forces of the mind perceiving human existence beyond reality. By broadening the perspectives of utopian studies, these essays enable the reader to reconstruct scholarly paradigms and strategies of utopian, complex and holistic thinking in modern cosmology, philosophy, sociology, in literary, historical and political sciences, and to compare traditions and ways of Western utopian thought to the practice in the East. Jörn Rüsen was Professor of Modern History at Universities Bochum and Bielefeld for many years. From 1994 to 1997 he was Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) at Bielefeld. Since 1997 he has been President of the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities Essen (Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut). Michael Fehr has been Director of the Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum of the City of Hagen, Germany, since 1987. Prior to that he was Assistant Professor at the Bergische Universität Wuppertal, and Deputy Director at the Art Museum of the City of Bochum. He has published extensively on contemporary art as well as on theory of museums, and teaches museology at University of Bonn. Thomas W. Rieger worked at the Museum of Contemporary History Bonn (Stiftung Haus der Geschichte) from 1993 to 1998, and since 1999 at Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum Hagen. He has been teaching Theory of Architecture at RWTH Aachen and has been Curator at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf since 2004. |
Contents
A CrossNational | 1 |
Politics Construction and Functions of Utopian Thinking | 15 |
Visions of the Future | 32 |
Utopia Contractualism Human Rights | 53 |
Technology and Economy | 67 |
Bodies in Utopia and Utopian Bodies in Imperial China | 89 |
Perspectives of a Computer | 104 |
The Virtual as a Place of | 120 |
Five Themes on an Epistemological | 169 |
Utopiary | 190 |
The Utopian Vision East and West | 207 |
A Dystopia of the Spirit | 230 |
From Revolutionary to Catastrophic Utopia | 247 |
On the | 263 |
A Plea for a Culture of Inspiration | 276 |
Notes on Contributors | 283 |
Other editions - View all
Thinking Utopia: Steps into Other Worlds Jörn Rüsen,Michael Fehr,Thomas W. Rieger Limited preview - 2005 |
Thinking Utopia: Steps Into Other Worlds Jörn Rüsen,Michael Fehr,Thomas Rieger No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
already anti-utopia art history artistic become China Chinese classical concept Confucian Confucius construction contemporary critical critique Crystal Palace cultural Datong democracy discourse dream dystopia early modern economic Ernst Osthaus Museum ethical example exist experience fantasy fiction Frankfurt-on-Main future genre Georg Minne global human nature human rights ibid idea ideal society imagined individual Institute Johann Valentin Andreae John Soane Karl Ernst Osthaus Kumar literary utopias Liu Yuxi living London Lyman Tower Sargent means Mencius ment More's Utopia museology nomenklatura organised Peach Blossom Spring philosophy political possible practice problem production radical rational realisation reality religious representation revolution Rüsen sense Soane Soane's social socialist space structure swarm intelligence Taoist theory things tion tradition trans trauma twentieth century University Press utopian thinking utopian thought virtual Vosskamp Wang Anshi