In this thesis I explore the place of the actualized utopian American alternative community of higher learning within a philosophy of human culture. I carry out such a study in order to articulate a unifying description of movement; to find the “target” that orients the activity of actualized utopia, as opposed to a classificatory rule to define a mechanically determined utopian-object. Although these communities have varied in practice since the first generation of them were created in the mid-nineteenth century, I argue that they have played, and continue to play, a particular role in America. They imagine what a world beyond their own could look like; and through their resistance to the perceived status quo (on which they rely for their identity), they prefigure a world that could be. Although this world never comes fully into existence, the actualization (i.e., the process of becoming a dynamic symbolic product of culture) of these communities illuminates new possibilities for human life in the larger culture. While these actualized utopian communities often live long beyond their pre-figurative years, paradoxically their practices largely stay the same. A resistance to the perceived modern culture, and a vision of a world that offers more opportunities for life and dignity, has made these communities places that cultivate persons with a sense of agency. These communities create a sense of active consciousness; they create people who believe the world is changeable. An open humanistic and personalistic theodicy is what distinguishes these schools from a cult of domination, or an organization bent on a utopia that depersonalizes and dehumanizes the opportunities of others in service of a singular vision.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:siu.edu/oai:opensiuc.lib.siu.edu:theses-2765 |
| Date | 01 August 2015 |
| Creators | Kramer, Eli Orner |
| Publisher | OpenSIUC |
| Source Sets | Southern Illinois University Carbondale |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses |
Page generated in 0.0019 seconds