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"The choice we have is not between reasonable proposals and an unreasonable utopianism. Utopian thinking does not undermine or discount real reforms. Indeed, it is almost the opposite: practical reforms depend on utopian dreaming."--Russell Jacoby, Picture Imperfect Utopianism suffers from an image problem: A recent exhibition on utopias in Paris and New York included photographs of Hitler's Mein Kampf and a Nazi concentration camp. Many observers judge utopians and their sympathizers as foolhardy dreamers at best and murderous totalitarians at worst. However, as noted social critic and historian Russell Jacoby argues in this salient, polemical, and innovative work, not only has utopianism been unfairly characterized, a return to an iconoclastic utopian spirit is vital for today's society. Shaped by the works of Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Ernst Bloch, Gustav Landauer, and other predominantly Jewish thinkers, iconoclastic utopianism revives society's dormant political imagination and offers hope for a better future. Writing against the grain of history, Jacoby reexamines the anti-utopian mindset and identifies how utopian thought came to be regarded with such suspicion. He challenges standard readings of such anti-utopian classics as 1984 and Brave New World and offers stinging critiques of the influential liberal and anti-utopian theorists Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, and Karl Popper. He argues that these thinkers mistakenly equate utopianism with totalitarianism. The reputation of utopian thought has also suffered from the failures of, what Jacoby terms, the blueprint utopian tradition and its oppressive emphasis on detailing all aspects of society and providing fantastic images of the future. In contrast, the iconoclastic utopians, like those who follow God's prohibition against graven images, resist both the blueprinters' obsession with detail and the modern seduction of images. Jacoby suggests that by learning from the hopeful spirit of iconoclastic utopians and their willingness to accept new possibilities for society, we open ourselves to new and more imaginative ideas of the future.
Utopias. --- Dystopias. --- Utopias --- Anti-utopias --- Ideal states --- States, Ideal --- Utopian literature --- Political science --- Socialism --- Voyages, Imaginary --- Dystopias --- Religious aspects. --- Political philosophy. Social philosophy --- Thematology --- Comparative literature --- Social ethics
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“Everything that Russell Jacoby writes is well worth reading. He’s smart, independent, lively, well-informed and alive with the joy of intellectual combat. Agree with him or not—he makes you think and think hard about any and every subject he takes up.” —Mark Edmundson, Professor of English, University of Virginia, USA “For over fifty years, Russell Jacoby has been one of our most relentlessly contrarian critics. In lucid and punchy—ok, often snarky—prose, he has lamented the decline of genuine intellectuals, exposed the pretenses of academia, and challenged pieties on both the right and left, while all the time refusing to give up on utopian ideals. Gathering his scattershot efforts into one resounding blast of critical energy, Intellectuals in Politics and Academia is easy to argue with, but hard to put down”. —Martin Jay Ehrman, Professor of European History Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, USA “Russell Jacoby is one of America’s very finest essayists and this collection shows his masterly combination of style and substance. His illuminating investigations of leading thinkers and his biting critique of academic conceits are alone worth the price of the book. Its range is exceptional and, as always, Jacoby shows respect for the utopian imagination and those intellectuals who defend it. These essays are provocative and, just as important, a great read. Don’t miss this book!” —Stephen Eric Bronner, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Comparative Literature, and German Studies, Rutgers University, USA This book addresses the fate of intellectuals in modern culture and politics. Russell Jacoby’s seminal The Last Intellectuals: American Culture in the Age of Academe (1987, 2000) introduced the term “public intellectual” and gave rise to heated controversy. Here Jacoby assesses contemporary public intellectuals, their profound failings and limited achievements. The book includes biting appraisals of well-known intellectuals, such as Noam Chomsky, Hannah Arendt, and Bernard-Henri Lévy, as well as interventions on violence, utopia and multiculturalism. Russell Jacoby is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, USA, and the author of the author of nine books, including Repression of Psychoanalysis (1983), Bloodlust (2011), and most recently On Diversity (2020).
Political philosophy. Social philosophy --- Theory of knowledge --- Politics --- intellectuele ontwikkeling --- politiek --- politieke filosofie --- Political science --- Intellectual life --- Political science. --- America --- Knowledge, Sociology of. --- Political Philosophy. --- Intellectual History. --- Political Theory. --- American Politics. --- Sociology of Knowledge and Discourse. --- Philosophy. --- History. --- Politics and government. --- Philosophy and psychology of culture --- Sociology of culture
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