Thinking Utopia

Jörn Rüsen was Professor of Modern History at Universities Bochum and Bielefeld for many years. From 1994 to 1997 he was Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) at Bielefeld. Since 1997 he has been President of the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities Essen (Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut). He specialises in theory and methodology of historical sciences, the history of historiography, intercultural aspects of historical thinking, theory of historical learning, and the history of human rights.

“…a highly readable and structured discussion about utopian thinking at the beginning of the 21st century…It is indeed fortunate that political scientists, historians, philosophers, art critics, and literary theorists have come together to share their thinking on utopia and utopian thought at this disastrous moment of human history, when many are asking if there is a future to which to look forward.”   ·  European Legacy

• List of IllustrationsPreface and AcknowledgementsIntroductionJörn Rüsen, Michael Fehr and Thomas W. RiegerChapter 1. The Necessity of Utopian Thinking: A Cross-National PerspectiveLyman Tower SargentPART I: POLITICS, CONSTRUCTION AND FUNCTIONS OF UTOPIAN THINKINGChapter 2. Aspects of the Western Utopian TraditionKrishan KumarChapter 3. Visions of the FutureMichael ThompsonChapter 4. Utopia, Contractualism, Human RightsRichard SaageChapter 5. On the Construction of Worlds: Technology and Economy in European UtopiasWolfgang PircherPART II: ARTIFICIAL WORLDS AND THE 'NEW MAN'Chapter 6. Bodies in Utopia and Utopian Bodies in Imperial ChinaDorothy KoChapter 7. Science, Technology and Utopia: Perspectives of a Computer-Assisted Evolution of HumankindKlaus MainzerChapter 8. ‘Thinking about the Unthinkable’: The Virtual as a Place of UtopiaClaus PiasChapter 9. Natural Utopianism in Everyday Life Practice – An Elementary Theoretical ModelUlrich OevermannPART III: MUSEUM AS UTOPIAN LABORATORYChapter 10. Haunted by Things: Utopias and Their ConsequencesDonald PreziosiChapter 11. Art – Museum – Utopia: Five Themes on an Epistemological Construction SiteMichael FehrChapter 12. Art, Science, Utopia in the Early Modern PeriodWolfgang BraungartChapter 13. UtopiaryRachel WeissPART IV: UTOPIA AS A MEDIUM OF CULTURAL COMMUNICATIONChapter 14. The Utopian Vision, East and WestZhang LongxiChapter 15. Trauma: A Dystopia of the SpiritMichael S. RothChapter 16. From Revolutionary to Catastrophic UtopiaSlavoj ZizekChapter 17. The Narrative Staging of Image and Counter-Image: On the Poetics of Literary UtopiasWilhelm VosskampChapter 18. Rethinking Utopia: A Plea for a Culture of InspirationJörn RüsenNotes on ContributorsIndex