“The End of Utopia” as a Paradox of Contemporaneity

Article

Abstract

[In Russian]

The article is dedicated to the philosophical analysis of “the end of utopia” and its consequences. The author states that it is possible to observe a kind of post-utopian reification of the political world that has lost its perspective of hope. This situation creates a paradox: on the one hand, it proclaims the liberation from the “illusions of utopian consciousness”, but on the other hand – politics is absorbed by instrumental rationality and the absence of alternatives. Utopia is an important element of social changes, as it is one of the mechanisms perceiving the political as the imaginary. Utopia is involved in the social imagination system and performs a constitutive function connected with the creation of political alternatives.  The author pays attention to the pretense of neo-liberalism and “late capitalism” to be a realized utopia. Particularly, it is manifested as an intention to be the only possible rationality of everyday life in modern society. Capitalism permeates everyday routine, fills the logic of human life and, therefore, presents itself as the economized common sense, according to which all human relationships should be built. These reflections may bring us to the understanding of why the changes fall short of expectations in the countries that are on the path of the so-called “catch-up modernization” and are implementing the principles of the Western capitalist economy and free market.