The optimism against the utopia: An ideological and semantic struggle
The aim of this article is to show the semantic leap between the initial meaning of the concept of utopia and the historical roots of its pejorative connotation. The author Laurent Loty explains this leap as a result of another theory: Leibniz’s optimism, his economic recovery by Bernard de Mandevil...
| Authors: | , |
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| Format: | article |
| Status: | Published version |
| Publication Date: | 2021 |
| Country: | Brasil |
| Institution: | Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) |
| Repository: | Revista de Ciências do Estado (Online) |
| Language: | Portuguese |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:periodicos.ufmg.br:article/35927 |
| Online Access: | https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/revice/article/view/e35927 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Liberalism Optimism Utopia Ideology Political and legal imagination Liberalismo Otimismo Ideologia Imaginação política e jurídica Optimismo Utopía Ideología Imaginación política y jurídica |
| Summary: | The aim of this article is to show the semantic leap between the initial meaning of the concept of utopia and the historical roots of its pejorative connotation. The author Laurent Loty explains this leap as a result of another theory: Leibniz’s optimism, his economic recovery by Bernard de Mandeville in favor of liberalism, and his psychological reinterpretation by Collin d’Harleville. A consequence of this optimism is the rejection of whatever is not the result of God’s will: if whatever that is must be, then whatever that is not must not be. Hence a categorical rejection of utopia as a defense against evil, whether it be theological or economic. Loty intends to deconstruct this theoretical creation of a common opinion opposed to utopia. Showing that what is not can be constitutes not only a philosophical task, but also a political duty for those who do not want to obey the current TINA law: “There Is No Alternative” to world neoliberalism. |
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