Why do Utopias fail?

Question

or why are we under the impression that they are either impossble or silly? I did a report on this before I am just inerested in what others think.

Answer 1

I think because its ideals go against the true nature of man.

Answer 2

People THINK that people are inherently sinful, evil, self-interested (in a bad way) -- and therefore ANY conscious construction of a society is inherently flawed Because it is made by flawed humans.

If someone can give me a more charitable perspective as to why utopias are automatically "dystopian" today-- I'd like to hear it.

The above argument is obviously wrong. A rabid snake could squiqqle out E=mc squared on the desert sand-- and it would still be true no matter how flawed the creature. Nor is there justification for "naturally evil". Distrust of government is exactly what the marketplace demands. That's why the fallacy of dystopia pervades. Free-market capitalism enforces the sentiment.

Every monestary and university is built around utopian thinking. And there's value in continuing to expand what Should be the case, instead of taking for granted the state as some natural, uninfluenced black box with a "do not tamper with" sign on the side. It's not terribly easy to make a utopia work-- everyone who consents to it are still governed by regressive ideologies. So forming one takes practice. Theory alone is great-- but without working at it, the goal is a hopeless ideal.

Answer 3

If you studied then you know about carl marx-
society has to go through certain stages before it can enter
an Utopia. we don't know if they fail. society just hasn't made it
there yet. society has to follow certain steps if we skip a step or two then we will be force to go back and do those steps again.
thats why the USSR fail they went from a monarchy straight to comunisum they skipped two steps democracy and socialism.
so they had to start over. thats how it will be for every society.
you can see how USA is slowly leaning toward Socialism the government getting bigger making more laws to protect it citizens.
some may say that it is evil, but that is the nature of government, when the government is able to provide for all our needs and wants then we will leave in an Utopia but only after going through the steps if we jumped in to a Utopia right now it would fail.
As long as we are greedy and only care about ourselves life will stay pretty much the same as it is right now. I for one am happy with that I don't want to be controled by others we are free to do what we want pretty much. the only why the Utopia would work is if we were mind-numb robots with no thoughts or emotions. who wants to live that way I like things to be stired up a little now and then, war is a small price we pay. its sad there are so many deaths do to ignorance, but if you want complete peace what will you lose by gaining it? life!

Answer 4

I'd be interested in what you found out in your report. Have all the utopias really failed? I believe there may indeed be utopias out there even today, that people did not plan as utopias. In some little villages, people live with extended families and everyone helps everyone. I met a nice lady from Nigeria one time that described her home growing up and she said that no one ever got depressed because there were always people around to support you. People were courteous, and they sang songs while they worked and so on. Maybe that doesn't sound utopian to everyone, but I thought it sounded very refreshing.

I did a paper on Ann Lee and the Shakers one time, and they had little utopian societies that they tried to build. Today, there is only one still in existence. I don't honestly know how successful it is.

As to why they fail, if they do indeed fail, it just has to go back to human nature. A utopia is made up of people, and people are not perfect. Societies can only be as perfect as the people who make them up.

Answer 5

Utopias require the best of people, effectively. Essentially, the people living in a utopia need to have ideas that actively support the utopia, or, at very least, are not antithetical to the utopia.

This is certainly possible on the small scale, where a group of determined individuals can make it work - hence, why you see the success in a number of small-scale utopian communes. However, trying to impliment it on a large-scale runs smack into the darker side of human nature - greed, jealously, laziness, etc.

Answer 6

Utopias do not fail. If they failed, they couldn't have been an actual Utopia.

LIke many have stated, the problem with Utopias is who gets in. Not everyone is ready for Utopia. This is not good or bad, it simply is. Everyone is valuable, everyone has worth but in an Utopia everyone would need to be more in synch with each other that we normally are.

The truth about Utopias is that they are all around us. We just won't see them until we are ready.

Answer 7

Ideas and beginning of realization is always enthusiastic and beautiful. Comes from Hope, Faith and Love, indivisible Divine quantities. It makes builders indivisible, Whole for a while. Then realization of big ideas should be done by many people, and people is divided within...All this mentioned above Quantities eventually will be broken on pieces and will represent broken mirror within any each of builders.Any fragment of a mirror will reflect different picture which comes from divided mind and project it outside...So the whole and perfect idea eventually will manifest according to a million pieces of that mentioned mirror. There is no doubt that people is far from being ready to build Utopia which is a manifestation of Heaven on Earth. Form of it. In order to build it , any each of the builders must be Whole. Historically and currently it was and will fail not because it is impossible to manifest it, but because it is impossible to manifest it being divided within. See emphasis is shifted here from idea of Utopia to creators of it. That is why societies eventually fail, all of it, just matter of the time. Principle of societies not based on wholeness but on division and diversities, although countless of slogans encourage us to be united, unknown faculty...and unification is not possible while everyone is divided within...

Answer 8

There are things in the world called Utopian communities. They are run by like minded individuals and represent a try at the the good life.

I think in order for such a thing as Utopia to make itself exist it would have to be a small intentional community. I also think that such a thing could be possible with the information sharing power of the Internet getting the message out and letting people who want to contribute to such a community get in contact with others who are already in one.

Also. In addition to Utopia meaning "no place" it also means "good place" its a play on words.

In greek Eu (Euthanasia) means good (eu Thanos=good death) (Eu Topos=good place)

Answer 9

Utopia is "an imagined perfect place". It can be only imagined because to create the ideal, perfect society you would need a perfect race of people. The human race is so far from perfect, that it would be impossible to achieve this perfection. Can you imagine the conflicts and wars that would arise over who was to head the government of such a place?

Answer 10

Beacause a Utopia is a state of perfect happiness trying to be achieved by imperfect humans, who usually put their own desires ahead of the needs of others. The definition of happiness and contentment is different for each person, so it can never satisfy everyone.

Answer 11

Utopias do not fail, or else they would not be Utopias. Utopias can't exist on Earth because humanity is too messed up to deal with it.