Purpose of utopian literature (1 Viewer)

zinc

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Does anyone have any idea of the purpose of utopian literature?
 

Itazura

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For the purpose of Satirisation? We had a look at the excerpts of Utopia by Thomas More and he was basically satirising the hierarchy, moral and ethical values and government process. But I don't know of any other Utopian literature, so I could very well be wrong.
 

undalay

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From all the utopian texts i have read; Genesis and the Garden of Eden, Utopia, The Giver, and some others i can't recall the title. I've only been left with one thought. Utopia is always flawed and never perfect.

Humans can't attain utopia because utopia itself is not defined. Nothing is perfect, so nothing can be an utopia.
 

zinc

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Ok, thanks, so basically the main idea is that utopias can't exist because they end up being flawed in some way?
 

PrettyVacant

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undalay said:
From all the utopian texts i have read; Genesis and the Garden of Eden, Utopia, The Giver, and some others i can't recall the title. I've only been left with one thought. Utopia is always flawed and never perfect.

Humans can't attain utopia because utopia itself is not defined. Nothing is perfect, so nothing can be an utopia.
Humans can't attain utopia because perfection cannot be defined either. Perfection is completely subjective and thus, we cannot have a universal utopia. I mean, you can have your own idea of utopia but it will differ significantly to someone elses idea of it.

I think the whole point of the idea of Utopia is that it is unattainable and that it is something we will never have, but it kind of makes you appreciate the flaws in society because that's what makes us human. =D

And the etymology of the word "utopia" from Greek - meaning "place that doesn't exist", therefore Utopia is only limited by our imaginations.

[/corny]
 

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