CSP 13 Utopias and Dystopias

The utopian instinct – the desire to imagine a perfect society without war, violence, suffering, or injustice – is a fundamental human impulse. Images of political perfection can be found throughout cultures and across history. Yet, since the middle of the twentieth centuries, dystopian nightmares seem to occupy the political imagination far more frequently. Are utopias naïve acts of wishful thinking at best and totalitarian blueprints at worst? Or do contemporary political challenges, from economic inequality to climate change, demand new forms of utopian thinking? Looking at utopias and dystopias in both political philosophy and literature, this course will explore these themes, with the goals of understanding not only the particular utopian dreams and dystopian nightmares, but also the broader functions and goals of politics and political theory. Reading selections from Plato, Aristophanes, Thomas More, Margaret Cavendish, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Octavia Butler, among others, this course will also critically examine cornerstone political values, including, freedom, equality, community, hope, and justice.