Utopia 1

Utopia in theory and practice. It’s all in the black.

The term “utopia” was coined by Thomas More in 1516 as joke; he combined the Greek terms for good (eu) and no (u) with topos (place). It is a good place that is no place.
“What would become of us without the help of what doesn’t exist [utopia]?” Paul Valéry
“Utopia understands the present through the future,” Ernst Bloch
“A world without utopia is a world without hope,” Bertrand de Jouvenal
“A map of the world without utopia on it is not worth looking at,” Oscar
Wilde
Perhaps utopia is a river of possibilities flowing from the past through the present to the future. Most of all, utopia is possibility, what is not but what might be. It is a trip to find what is and is not possible, when and where, and under what conditions. My research in political theory concentrates on the utopian element.
Realists, who can see only what is, see less than there can be. Here a few examples:
1. The equality of women was proposed by utopian Plato
, and dismissed by the realist Aristotle.
2. European unity was proposed by utopian St Simon
, and dismissed by realist Karl Marx.
3. Shopping arcades were designed by utopian Tommaso Campanella
, and attacked by that realist the Pope.
4. The credit card was proposed by utopia Edward Bellamy and dismissed by realist John Jacob Astor.
5. Fair pay and good living conditions for factory workers was implemented by utopian Robert Owen
, and opposed by his realist business partners. (He was very successful.)
6. Coming full circle, Charlotte Gilman
proposed the equality of the sexes only to be denounced by one and all.
There is a utopian dimension to each of the items pictured below. See if you can figure it out.

A few of my publications on utopia.
‘”Every man is a friend to every man:” Hobbes’s vision of the good life’ with Damian Grace, Utopia and Utopianism {Spain}, Vol III (2008) at http://www.utopiaandutopianism.com/3.htm
‘The Swedish Model,’ Australian Quarterly, 77 (2005)2: 20-27 and 38-39 with Tim Colquhoun.
‘”Every man is a friend to every man: Hobbes’s vision of the good life,”’ Utopian Studies conference, Memphis, Tennessee, 2005.
Philosopher-Kings and Bankers,’ Theoria 107 (August 2005) 19-35.
‘IKEA and Sweden as utopia,’ Utopian Studies conference, Orlando, Florida, 2004.
‘Designed by theorists: Aristotle on utopia,’ Utopian Studies, 12 (2001)2, 1-12.
‘Aristotle’s case for utopia,’ Utopian Studies conference, San Antonio, Texas, 2000
‘New Anthologies [on utopia],’ Utopian Studies, 11 (2000)1, 120-123.
‘Imagined Republics,’ Journal of Value Inquiry, 34 (2000)4, 427-437.
‘Aristotle on utopia,’ Proceedings of the 1999 Conference of the Australasain Political Studies Association (Sydney, 1999), Volume II, pp. 367-373.