There is a vacuum of philosophy to make sense of a
world dominated by a disorderly global economy, by science and
engineering, by ideologies, and by popular culture. There is a vacuum of
law to bring order to relations between states that are more
threatening than they have ever been. Thomas More’s Utopia (1516)
re-thought everything in another difficult new world. Philip Allott’s
Eutopia (2016) reclaims the best of human thought to empower us in
making a better human world.
The human world is in a mess. The human mind is in a mess. And now the
human species is threatening its own survival by its own inventions and
by war. For thousands of years, human beings conducted a great debate
about the human condition and human possibilities, about philosophy and
society and law.
In 1516, Thomas More, in his book Utopia, contributed to the ancient debate, at another time of profound transformation in the human world. In our own time, we have witnessed a collapse in intellectual life, and a collapse in the theory and practice of education. The old debate is, for all practical purposes, dead.
In 2016, Philip Allott’s Eutopia resumes the debate about the role of philosophy and society and law in making a better human future, responding to a human world that More could not have imagined. And he lets us hear the voices of some of those who contributed to the great debate in the past, voices that still resonate today.
In 1516, Thomas More, in his book Utopia, contributed to the ancient debate, at another time of profound transformation in the human world. In our own time, we have witnessed a collapse in intellectual life, and a collapse in the theory and practice of education. The old debate is, for all practical purposes, dead.
In 2016, Philip Allott’s Eutopia resumes the debate about the role of philosophy and society and law in making a better human future, responding to a human world that More could not have imagined. And he lets us hear the voices of some of those who contributed to the great debate in the past, voices that still resonate today.
