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The task of Utopia : a pragmatist and feminist perspective / Erin McKenna.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- McKenna, Erin, 1965-
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Dewey, John, 1859-1952.
- Dewey, John.
- Utopias in literature.
- Feminism.
- Anarchism.
- Physical Description:
- x, 179 pages ; 24 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, [2001]
- Summary:
- Are utopian visions viable in the 21st century? Utopia has been equated, for many, with totalitarianism. Such visions are not acceptable. The loss of utopian visions altogether is also unacceptable. This book argues that American Pragmatism and Feminist theory can combine to provide a process model of utopia that pushes to build a flexible future that helps us deal with change, conflict, and diversity without resorting to fixed ends.
- Contents:
- 1 Introduction: The Problem of the Future 1
- The Need for Utopia 1
- Why Pragmatism, Feminism, and Utopia? 3
- 2 The End-State Model of Utopia 17
- Static Imagination 18
- The Desirability of Perfection 21
- The Possibility of Perfection 26
- Rousseau: Utopian Education 29
- Perfection as Process 34
- The End-State Vision of Women's Country 36
- Women's Country 37
- Problems of the Vision 40
- Women's Country: A Useful Utopian Vision? 44
- 3 The Anarchist Model of Utopia 49
- Anarchist Imagination 50
- The Cost of Freedom 53
- The Possibility of Freedom and Its Maintenance 58
- Anarchist Education 63
- Freedom as the Precondition of Progress 65
- The Anarchist Vision of Mattapoisett 68
- Mattapoisett 70
- Problems of the Vision 74
- Mattapoisett: A Useful Utopian Vision? 79
- 4 Dewey's Democracy: A Process Model of Utopia 83
- Intelligent Imagination 84
- The Possibilities of Imagined Ends 88
- Realizing the Possible 90
- Dewey Rejects End-State and Anarchist Visions 92
- Judging Future Possibilities 97
- Education and Experimentation 101
- The Need to Dream the Possible 105
- Dewey's Community 107
- A Picture of Community 113
- The Possibility of Community 118
- 5 Feminism, Pragmatism, Community, and Utopia 129
- A Feminist Critique of Dewey's Call for Community 131
- Feminst Utopias 135
- The Kesh 141
- The Hill Women 147
- The Valley and the Wanderground
- Good Ends-in-View 153
- 6 The Future of Utopia 161.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-174) and index.
- ISBN:
- 0742513181
- 074251319X
- OCLC:
- 47739749
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