Should we seek a perfect world?

Tim Soutphommasane’s Ask the Philosopher from The Australian Nov 14 2009 ‘The anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall reminds us how destructive utopian philosophies can become. Does this mean we should never strive for utopia? ICH bin ein Berliner. Earlier this week we were all Berliners once again, as Germans celebrated the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down. That symbol of the Cold War was indeed a concrete reminder of the short distance between utopian promise and dystopian reality. But there is a second sense in which we might like to boast we are all Berliners. I am referring here to Isaiah Berlin, the Oxford philosopher who explained the perils of embracing utopianism as political ideology . . . ‘

AskthePhilosopher14Nov2009 Seeking a perfect world (pdf)

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