烏托邦是人類對美好社會的憧憬。
烏托邦是人類思想意識中最美好的社會，如同西方早期“空想社會主義”。西方一位學者提出的空想社會主義社會：美好、人人平等、沒有壓迫、就像世外桃源。烏托邦式的愛情也是美好至極的。
烏托邦主義是社會理論的一種，它試圖藉由將若幹可欲的價值和實踐呈現於一理想的國傢或社會，而促成這些價值和實踐。一般而言，烏托邦的作者並不認為這樣的國傢可能實現，至少是不可能以其被完美描繪的形態付諸實現。但是他們並非在做一項僅僅是想像或空幻的搬弄，就如烏托邦主義這個詞彙的通俗用法所指的一般。如同柏拉圖《理想國》（Republic）（它是最早的真正烏托邦）中所顯示的，通常某目的是：藉由擴大描繪某一概念（正義或自由），以基於這種概念而建構之理想社群的形式，來展現該概念的若幹根本性質。在某些其他的場合，例如摩爾（Sir Thomas More）的《烏托邦》（Utopia，1516），其目標則主要是批判和諷刺：將烏托邦中的善良人民和作者當時社會的罪惡作巧妙的對比，而藉之譴責後者。衹有極少數的烏托邦作者––貝拉密（Edward Bellamy）的《回顧》（Looking Backward，1888）即是佳例––企圖根據其烏托邦中所認真規劃的藍圖來改造社會。就其本質而言，烏托邦的功能乃是啓發性的。
直到十七世紀之前，烏托邦一般均被置於地理上遙遠的國度；十六與十七世紀歐洲航海探險的發現，使人們大為熟悉這個世界，因而使此一有用的設計銷聲匿跡。自彼時起，烏托邦所處的空間或移到外太空（十七世紀開始有月球之旅）、或海底（像經常發現的傳說中瀋沒於大西洋的大陸文明）、或者地殼底下的深處。然而漸漸地烏托邦就由空間的轉置變成時間的轉置，這一進展最初是由十七世紀的進步觀念所鼓舞，之後則被李爾（Lyell）的新地質學和達爾文（Darwin）的新生物學中鉅幅擴張的時間觀念所鼓舞。烏托邦不再是較好的空間，而是較好的時間。威爾斯（H.G.Wells）乘著他的時光旅行傢航嚮數十億年後的未來，史德普頓（Olaf Stapledon）在《人之始末》（Last & First Men，1930）中，則用二十億年的時間比例來表示人類朝嚮全然烏托邦境界的攀升。
從空間到時間的轉置也使烏托邦中産生了一種新的社會學的現實主義。烏托邦此時被置於歷史中，然而無論距離烏托邦的極緻之境是何等遙遠，它至少可呈現出：人類或許是無可避免地正朝嚮它發展的光景。十七世紀科學和技術的聯結加強了這個動嚮，例如培根（Bacon）的《新大西洋大陸》（New Atlantis，1627）和康帕內拉（Campanella）的《太陽之都》（City of the Sun，1637）中所表現者。隨著十九世紀社會主義（它本身即深具烏托邦色彩）的興起。烏托邦主義便逐漸變成關於社會主義之實現可能性的辯論。貝拉密以及威爾斯的烏托邦（《現代烏托邦》〔Modern Utopia，1905〕）皆是為正統社會主義辯護的有力著作；但是摩裏斯（William Morris）則在《來自烏有之鄉的消息》（News form Nowhere，1890）中提出了另一種吸引人的訟法。這個異種的替代說法乃因“反烏托邦”（dystopia 或 anti utopia）的發明而出現，此乃對所有烏托邦希望的逆轉和猛烈的批評。這個觀念由巴特勒（Samuel Butler）反達爾文主義的《鳥有之鄉》（Erewhon，1872）一書所預示，而在1930和1940年代達到了頂點，尤其表現於赫胥黎（Aldous Huxley）的《美麗新世界》（Brave New World，1932）和歐威爾（George Orwell）的《一九八四》（Nineteen Eighty-Four，1949）這兩本書中。在這暗淡的年代理，衹有史基納（B.F.Skinner）的《桃源二村》（Walden Two，1948）維護著烏托邦的火炬使之不熄，然而仍有許多人在這個行為工程（behavioural engineering）的，烏托邦中察覺到比最黑暗的反烏托邦更可怕的夢魘。但是烏托邦主義卻在1960年代強而有力地復活，例如像馬孤哲（Herbert Marcuse）的《論解放》（An Essay on Liberation，1969）這樣的著作；而在未來學和生態學的運動中也可見其蓬勃的生氣。
或許烏托邦主義是人類情境所固有的，也許它衹內在於那些受古典和基督教傳統影響的文化之中；但是我們大可同意王爾德（Oscar Wilde）的話：一張沒有烏托邦的世界地圖是絲毫不值得一顧的。
1.Utopia
Utopia is a name for an ideal community, taken from the title of a book written in1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempted to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in literature. "Utopia" is sometimes used pejoratively, in reference toan unrealistic ideal that is impossible to achieve, and has spawned other concepts, most prominently dystopia.
The word comes from Greek: οὐ, "not", and τόπος, "place", indicating that More was utilizing the concept as allegory and did not consider such an idealplace to be realistically possible. It is worth noting that the homophone Eutopia, derived from the Greek εὖ, "good" or "well", andτόπος, "place", signifies a double meaning that was almost certainly intended. Despite this, most modern usage of the term "Utopia" assumesthe latter meaning, that of a place of perfection rather than nonexistence.
Related terms
Dystopia is a negative utopia:a totalitarian and repressive world. Examples: Jack London's The IronHeel, George Orwell's 1984; Aldous Huxley's Brave New World; RayBradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange; AlanMoore's V for Vendetta; Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale; EvgeniiZamiatin's We; Ayn Rand's Anthem; Samuel Butler's Erewhon; ChuckPalahniuk's Rant; Cormac McCarthy's The Road; Terry Gilliam's Brazil,Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira
Eutopia is a positive utopia, different in that it means "perfect" but not "fictional".
Outopiaderived from the Greek 'ou' for "no" and '-topos' for "place," afictional, this means unrealistic or directly translated "Nothing, nomatter what" This is the other half from Eutopia, and the two togethercombine to Utopia.
Heterotopia, the "other place", with its realand imagined possibilities (a mix of "utopian" escapism and turningvirtual possibilities into reality) — example: cyberspace. Samuel R.Delany's novel Trouble on Triton is subtitled An Ambiguous Heterotopiato highlight that it is not strictly utopian (though not dystopian).The novel offers several conflicting perspectives on the concept ofutopia.
Some questions have arisen about the fact that writers andpeople in history have used utopia to define a perfect place. Utopia isa perfect but unreal place. A proper definition of a perfect and realplace is eutopia.
Moore's utopia is largely based on Plato'sRepublic . It is a perfect version of Republic wherein the beautiesof society reign (eg: equality and a general pacifist attitude),although its citizens are all ready to fight if need be. The evils ofsociety, eg: poverty and misery, are all removed. It has few laws, nolawyers and rarely sends its citizens to war, but hires mercenariesfrom among its war-prone neighbors (these mercenaries were deliberatelysent into dangerous situations in the hope that the more warlikepopulations of all surrounding countries will be weeded out, leavingpeaceful peoples). The society encourages tolerance of all religions.Some readers have chosen to accept this imaginary society as therealistic blueprint for a working nation, while others have postulatedMoore intended nothing of the sort. Some maintain the position thatMoore's Utopia functions only on the level of a satire, a work intendedto reveal more about the England of his time than about an idealisticsociety. This interpretation is bolstered by the title of the book andnation, and its apparent equivocation between the Greek for "no place"and "good place": "Utopia" is a compound of the syllable ou-, meaning"no", and topos, meaning place. But the homonymous prefix eu-, meaning"good," also resonates in the word, with the implication that theperfectly "good place" is really "no place."
Economic utopia
Theseutopias are based on economics. Most intentional communities attemptingto create an economic utopia were formed in response to the harsheconomic conditions of the 19th century.
Particularly in the earlynineteenth century, several utopian ideas arose, often in response tothe social disruption created by the development of commercialism andcapitalism. These are often grouped in a greater "utopian socialist"movement, due to their shared characteristics: an egalitariandistribution of goods, frequently with the total abolition of money,and citizens only doing work which they enjoy and which is for thecommon good, leaving them with ample time for the cultivation of thearts and sciences. One classic example of such a utopia was EdwardBellamy's Looking Backward. Another socialist utopia is William Morris'News from Nowhere, written partially in response to the top-down(bureaucratic) nature of Bellamy's utopia, which Morris criticized.However, as the socialist movement developed it moved away fromutopianism; Marx in particular became a harsh critic of earliersocialism he described as utopian. (For more information see theHistory of Socialism article.) Also consider Eric Frank Russell's bookThe Great Explosion (1963) whose last section details an economic andsocial utopia. This forms the first mention of the idea of LocalExchange Trading Systems (LETS).
Utopias have also been imagined bythe opposite side of the political spectrum. For example, Robert A.Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress portrays an individualistic andlibertarian utopia. Capitalist utopias of this sort are generally basedon free market economies, in which the presupposition is that privateenterprise and personal initiative without an institution of coercion,government, provides the greatest opportunity for achievement andprogress of both the individual and society as a whole.
There isanother view that capitalist utopias do not address the issue of marketfailure, any more than socialist utopias address the issue of planningfailure. Thus a blend of socialism and capitalism is seen by some asthe type of economy in a utopia. For example, one such idea is to havesmall, community-owned enterprises working under a market-based modelof economy.
Political and historical utopia
Politicalutopias are ones in which the government establishes a society that isstriving toward perfection. A political or historical utopia isbasically impossible to find.
A global utopia of world peace isoften seen as one of the possible endings of history. Within thelocalized political structures or spheres it presents,"polyculturalism" is the model-based adaptation of possibleinteractions between different cultures and identities in accordancewith the principles of participatory society.
Sparta was amilitaristic eutopia founded by Lycurgus (though some, especiallyAthenians, may have considered it a dystopia). It was a Greek poweruntil its defeat by the Thebans at the battle of Leuctra.
Religious utopia
NewHarmony, a utopian attempt; depicted as proposed by Robert OwenTheseutopias are based on religious ideals, and are to date those mostcommonly found in human society. Their members are usually required tofollow and believe in the particular religious tradition thatestablished the utopia. Some permit non-believers or non-adherents totake up residence within them; others (such as the Community at Qumran)do not.
The Islamic, Jewish, and Christian ideas of the Garden ofEden and Heaven may be interpreted as forms of utopianism, especiallyin their folk-religious forms. Such religious utopias are oftendescribed as "gardens of delight", implying an existence free fromworry in a state of bliss or enlightenment. They postulate freedom fromsin, pain, poverty, and death, and often assume communion with beingssuch as angels or the houri. In a similar sense the Hindu concept ofMoksha and the Buddhist concept of Nirvana may be thought of as a kindof utopia. In Hinduism or Buddhism, however, utopia is not a place buta state of mind. A belief that if we are able to practice meditationwithout continuous stream of thoughts, we are able to reachenlightenment. This enlightenment promises exit from the cycle of lifeand death, relating back to the concept of utopia.
However, theusual idea of Utopia, which is normally created by human effort, ismore clearly evident in the use of these ideas as the bases forreligious utopias, as members attempt to establish/reestablish on Eartha society which reflects the virtues and values they believe have beenlost or which await them in the Afterlife.
In the United States andEurope during the Second Great Awakening of the nineteenth century andthereafter, many radical religious groups formed eutopian societies inwhich all aspects of people's lives could be governed by their faith.Among the best-known of these eutopian societies were the Shakers,which originated in England in the 18th century but moved to Americashortly afterward. Other good examples are Fountain Grove, Riker's HolyCity and other Californian eutopian colonies between 1855 and 1955(Hine), as well as Sointula in British Columbia, Canada.
[edit] Scientific and technological utopia
Seealso: hedonistic imperative, transhumanism, technological singularity,abolitionist society, techno-utopia, and Technocracy movement
Utopianflying machines of the previous century, France, 1890-1900(chromolithograph trading card).These are set in the future, when it isbelieved that advanced science and technology will allow utopian livingstandards; for example, the absence of death and suffering; changes inhuman nature and the human condition. These utopian societies tend tochange what "human" is all about. Technology has affected the wayhumans have lived to such an extent that normal functions, like sleep,eating or even reproduction, has been replaced by an artificial means.Other kinds of this utopia envisioned, include a society where humanshave struck a balance with technology and it is merely used to enhancethe human living condition (e.g. Star Trek). In place of the staticperfection of a utopia, libertarian transhumanists envision an"extropia", an open, evolving society allowing individuals andvoluntary groupings to form the institutions and social forms theyprefer.
Buckminster Fuller presented a theoretical basis fortechnological utopianism and set out to develop a variety oftechnologies ranging from maps to designs for cars and houses whichmight lead to the development of such a utopia.
One notable example of a technological and libertarian socialist utopia is Scottish author Iain M. Banks' Culture.
Avariation on this theme was found earlier in the theories of eugenics.Believing that many traits were hereditary in nature, the eugenistsbelieved that not only healthier, more intelligent race could be bred,but many other traits could be selected for, including "talent", oragainst, including drunkness and criminality. This called for "positiveeugenics" encouraging those with good genes to have children, and"negative eugenics" discouraging those with bad genes, or preventingthem altogether by confinement or forcible sterilization.
Opposingthis optimism is the prediction that advanced science and technologywill, through deliberate misuse or accident, cause environmental damageor even humanity's extinction. Critics advocate precautions against thepremature embrace of new technologies.
Utopianism
Utopianism refers to various social and political movements.
Inmany cultures, societies, religions, and cosmogonies, there is somemyth or memory of a distant past when humankind lived in a primitiveand simple state, but at the same time one of perfect happiness andfulfillment. In those days, the various myths tell us, there was aninstinctive harmony between man and nature. Men's needs were few andtheir desires limited. Both were easily satisfied by the abundanceprovided by nature. Accordingly, there were no motives whatsoever forwar or oppression. Nor was there any need for hard and painful work.Humans were simple and pious, and felt themselves close to the gods.
Thesemythical or religious archetypes are inscribed in all the cultures andresurge with special vitality when people are in difficult and criticaltimes. However, the projection of the myth does not take place towardsthe remote past, but either towards the future or towards distant andfictional places, imagining that at some time of the future, at somepoint of the space or beyond the death must exist the possibility ofliving happily.
These myths of the earliest stage of humankind have been referred to by various religions:
TheGolden Age by Lucas Cranach the Elder.Golden Age The Greek poet Hesiod,around the 8th century BC, in his compilation of the mythologicaltradition (the poem Works and Days), explained that, prior to thepresent era, there were other four progressively more perfect ones, theoldest of which was the Golden age.
Plutarch, the Greek historian and biographer of the 1st century, dealt with the blissful and mythic past of the humanity.
Arcadia,e.g. in Sir Philip Sidney's prose romance The Old Arcadia (1580).Originally a region in the Peloponnesus, Arcadia became a synonym forany rural area that serves as a pastoral setting, as a locus amoenus("delightful place"):
The Biblical Garden of Eden The Biblical Garden of Eden as depicted in Genesis 2 (Authorized Version of 1611):
"Andthe Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put theman whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to growevery tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the treeof life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge ofgood and evil. [...]
And the Lord God took the man, and put him intothe garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord Godcommanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayestfreely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thoushalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shaltsurely die. [...]
And the Lord God said, It is not good that the manshould be alone; [...] And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fallupon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up theflesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken fromman, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man."
The Land ofCokaygne The Land of Cokaygne [also spelled Cockaygne or Cockaigne] (inthe German tradition referred to as "Schlaraffenland") has beenaptly called the "poor man's heaven", being a popular fantasy of purehedonism and thus a foil for the innocent and instinctively virtuouslife that is depicted in all the other accounts mentioned above.Cockaygne is a land of extravagance and excess rather than simplicityand piety. There is freedom from work, and every material thing is freeand available. Cooked larks fly straight into one's mouth; the riversrun with wine; sexual promiscuity is the norm; and there is a fountainof youth which keeps everyone young and active.
There is a medieval poem (c. 1315) written in rhyming couplets which is entitled "The Land of Cokaygne":
"Far in the sea, to the west of Spain,
Is a country called Cokaygne.
There's no land not anywhere,
In goods or riches to compare.
Though Paradise be merry and bright
Cokaygne is of far fairer sight...."
Finding utopia
Thesemyths also express some hope that the idyllic state of affairs theydescribe is not irretrievably and irrevocably lost to mankind, that itcan be regained in some way or other.
One way would be to look forthe "earthly paradise"—a place like Shangri-La, hidden in the Tibetanmountains and described by James Hilton in his Utopian novel LostHorizon (1933). Such paradise on earth must be somewhere if only manwere able to find it. Christopher Columbus followed directly in thistradition in his belief that he had found the Garden of Eden when,towards the end of the 15th century, he first encountered the New Worldand its indigenous inhabitants.
Another way of regaining the lostparadise (or Paradise Lost, as 17th century English poet John Miltoncalls it) would be to wait for the future, for the return of the GoldenAge. According to Christian theology, the Fall from Paradise, caused byMan alone when he disobeyed God ("but of the tree of the knowledge ofgood and evil, thou shalt not eat of it"), has resulted in thewickedness of character that all human beings have been born with since(original sin).
In a scientific approach to finding utopia, theGlobal Scenario Group, an international group of scientists founded byPaul Raskin, used scenario analysis and backcasting to map out a pathto an environmentally sustainable and socially equitable future. Itsfindings suggest that a global citizens' movement is necessary to steerpolitical, economic, and corporate entities toward this newsustainability paradigm.
[edit] Examples of utopia
See also utopian and dystopian fiction
Plato'sRepublic (400 BC) was, at least on one level, a description of apolitical utopia ruled by an elite of philosopher kings, conceived byPlato. (Compare to his Laws, discussing laws for a real city.)
TheCity of God (written 413–426) by Augustine of Hippo, describes an idealcity, the "eternal" Jerusalem, the archetype of all Christian utopias.
Utopia (1516) by Thomas More a Gutenberg text of the book
ReipublicaeChristianopolitanae descriptio (Beschreibung des Staates Christenstadt)(1619) by Johann Valentin Andreæ, describes a Christianutopia inhabited by a community of scholar-artisans and run as ademocracy.
The City of the Sun (1623) by Tommaso Campanella depicts a theocratic and communist society.
The New Atlantis (1627) by Francis Bacon.
Zwaanendael Colony (1631) by Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy in Delaware.
Newsfrom Nowhere by William Morris (1892), Shows "Nowhere", a place withoutpolitics, a future society based on common ownership and democraticcontrol of the means of production.
Gloriana, or the Revolutionof 1900 (1890) by Lady Florence Dixie. The female protagonist poses asa man, Hector l'Estrange, is elected to the House of Commons, and winswomen the vote. The book ends in the year 1999, with a description of aprosperous and peaceful Britain governed by women.
H. G. Wells's A Modern Utopia (1905) is half fiction and half philosophical debate.
Islandia(1942), by Austin Tappan Wright, an imaginary island in the SouthernHemisphere, a utopian containing many Arcadian elements, including arejection of technology.
Island (novel) (1962) by Aldous Huxleyfollows the story of Will Farnaby, a cynical journalist, who shipwreckson the fictional island of Pala and experiences their unique cultureand traditions which create a utopian society.
Ecotopia: TheNotebooks and Reports of William Weston (1975) by Ernest Callenbach,ecological utopia in which the Pacific Northwest has seceded from theunion to set up a new society.
Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) byMarge Piercy, the story of a middle-aged Hispanic woman who has visionsof a utopian society.
The Probability Broach (1980), by L. NeilSmith, presents both utopian and dystopian views of present day NorthAmerica, through alternative outcomes of the American War forIndependence.
Always Coming Home (1985), by Ursula K. Le Guin, acombination of fiction and fictional anthropology about a society inCalifornia in the distant future.
2.an ideal place or state