Marty discusses three historical examples of utopian thought that are crucial to our understanding of it: Thomas MoreвЂ™s Utopia, theologian Thomas MГјntzerвЂ™s effort to build a community centered on his religious principles in sixteenthcentury Germany, and the community imagined by another German religious thinker, Johann Valentine Andreae, in his seventeenth-century work Christianoplis. Such understanding, in MuschampвЂ™s view, fosters an engagement with the world that recognizes imperfection by continually seeking to refine perception of subjective experience and objective reality, and thereby creating the possibility of transcendence. The cosmology of Mahayana Buddhism, based on the metaphorical understanding that the eventual perfection of the lotus flower depends upon the murky disorder of the swamp-the only environment in which it can grow- seeks to realize utopian possibility through a deep understanding of opposition and paradox. Architects such as Adolph Loos wrestle with the utopian ideal by designing buildings that mediate between esthetic and social demands, between the inner space of the building and the outer space of its context. In his view, architecture and the practice of Buddhism are brought together by their similar dependence upon the continual interrogation and refinement of perception. Herbert Muschamp finds the utopian impulse, in this case defined as a wholeness derived from the desire to integrate the opposite or the disparate, in two seemingly different human endeavors. He uses the nascent technology of the Internet as an illustration of a quasiutopian project-one that may never bring about the complete erasure of conventional identities and forms of interaction which its creators imagined, but which has nevertheless altered social relations in our existing world in fundamental ways. Whatever the dangers of utopian efforts, Rothstein argues that вЂњthe quest itselfвЂќ is still an imaginative precondition for achievable change in the here and now. Yet he also illuminates the inextricable linkД«etween an underlying belief in utopian ideals-harmony, equality, the elimination of unmet needs or desire, ethical interaction, and the resulting potential for new forms of human consciousness-and the very possibility of social progress. In the first essay, Edward Rothstein examines what might be called the tragedy of utopia, the essential fact that any utopian project contains the seed of its own destruction, whether in violent revolution, totalitarianism, or mere intolerance. The result is three distinct yet related pieces which remind their readers of the range of writers, artists, and religious thinkers who have concerned themselves with the search for an ideal human society, and what we can learn from their ideas and experiences. Marty-to discuss the history of utopian thought, its incarnations, and implications. The Library mounted a major exhibition entitled вЂњUtopia: The Search for the Ideal Society in the Western World.вЂќ Oxford invited a trio of distinguished speakers-the cultural critic Edward Rothstein, the architecture critic Herbert Muschamp, and the historian of religion Martin E. In that year, with the millennium approaching, the topic of utopia seemed an appropriate one to explore. Separate lectures in the 2000 Oxford University Press/New York Public Library lecture series. HE THREE ESSAYS THAT COMPRISE THIS BOOK WERE ORIGINALLY PRESENTED AS V I S I O N S O F U TO P I A INTRODUCTION вЂњBut Even So, Look at ThatвЂќ: An Ironic Perspective on Utopias Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rothstein, Edward,1952Visions of utopia/Edward Rothstein, Herbert Muschamp, Martin E. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. MartyДЈ Oxford New York Auckland Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi SГЈo Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Copyright В© 2003 Oxford University Press Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. Edward Rothstein Herbert Muschamp Martin E.

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