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Utopian ideas
It would be a mistake to think that the notion of a perfect or truly good
society is a modern construct. We do not have to venture further than to
our religions to find ancient ideas about a paradise without suffering
or scarcity. But these visions were never regarded as something that man
himself should realize here on Earth through for instance political action.
Instead they symbolized a divine category in opposition to what was
feasible in this worldly life. However, during the later half of the 18th
century a new view on politics emerged. The human conditions were no longer
considered as predetermined or fixed but as something alterable.
Slowly the possibility to liberate man from all the evil of the
past - war, poverty and oppression - became a realistic option for many thinkers.
Due to this politics was no longer simply a way to react on a changing
environment but a way to actually shape the future. Politics became a project and
hence did utopia become a prescription or a desirable end.
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The history of the word "utopia" starts with Sir Thomas More who
invented it to name his ideal society in the book with the
same name. In contrast to popular belief the word "utopia" does
not simply mean nowhere. It is actually a pun combination of two
Greek words, outopia, meaning "no place" and eutopia, meaning
"good" or "fortunate place". More ingeniously removed the
leading letter and thus created this ambiguity that so fittingly
seizes man's problematic relation to ideal societies, perhaps
to an even greater extent than its originator envisaged.
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