Abstract

Utopian thought, corresponding to human aspirations for justice, happiness, and the best form of government, appears as a privileged site in which social imagination is exercised and collective dreams are elaborated. Through some key concepts (justice, equality, progress, work for all, well-being, technique/technology) present in utopian projects by important authors (More, Campanella, Bacon, Mercier, Fourier) this essay follows the interaction of the utopian imagination with critical rationality, scientific-technological knowledge, and human desire. This interaction is crucial for conceiving and planning the transformation of reality, private as well as public, of social, political, economic organisation, the material conditions of existence, life and human relations. The most profound meaning of the modern utopian project lies in the ability to question human imagination and put it at the service of projects and processes of political and social transformation aiming for a more just society.