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Twentieth century political Philosophy takes for granted that the pursuit of utopia is dangerous for three reasons: pursuing utopia justifies the use of violence to accomplish its ends; it requires one to deny the individual in favor of the community; and it utilizes a mindset of mere problem-solving when asking the question of how humans should live together fruitfully. But these criticisms (articulated by Isaiah Berlin, John Rawls and Michael Oakeshott, respectively) do not apply to certain writers of feminist science fiction whose utopias embrace pluralism, ambiguity, and the messiness of Politics. This paper examines the work of two such utopians, Octavia Butler and Marge Percy, in order to reinvigorate political philosophy with the visions of community imagined in these largely ignored utopias.

Keywords: Octavia Butler; Marge Percy; Utopia; Political Philosophy; Pluralism; Social Change

A political philosophy that loses its stories loses its source of imagination and inspiration. Utopia is the story of political philosophy. It is surely not the only mode of political philosophy. But it is the story to which we most often return and the foundation on which political philosophy is built. However, by the end of the 20th century it could be taken for granted that the very idea of a utopia was dead. Political philosophers from variety of perspectives had outlined the dangers inherent in utopian thinking, and the experiences of the 20th century surely provided a caution for anyone intent on bringing about such perfection.1 three particular criticisms capture the concerns of 20th century

Political philosophers. First is the expectation that utopia justifies violence, second is the expectation that utopia collapses individual desires into one communal norm, and third is the expectation that utopia mandates a robotic focus on problem-solving. However, while these arguments concerning the dangers of utopia are compelling, it is also the case that when political philosophers abandon the very idea of utopia, they necessarily abandon the source of what it is to do political philosophy. Insofar as we are in any way engaged in an attempt to think creatively about how human beings with disparate aims and interests are able to live together fruitfully, or at least peacefully, then we must not give up the possibility of utopia. For utopias challenge our imagination so that we might rethink what it means to be human and how we might live communally. Utopia is thus not the attempt to bring about heaven unearth. For the true utopian sees her project as both a critical reflection on the flaws other society and also a prescriptive outline for the possibility of a better future. Utopians can equally criticize the very attempt to achieve perfection. There is no reason to think that perfection and utopia are necessarily compatible.

References
Bellamy, E. (1982). Looking backward. New York: Penguin Books.
Berlin, I. (1991a). Decline of utopian ideas in the west. In H. Hardy (Ed.), the crooked timber of humanity (pp. 20–48). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Berlin I. (1991b). Pursuit of the ideal. In H. Hardy (Ed.), the crooked timber of humanity (pp. 1–19).
New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Butler, O. (1999). Parable of the sewer. New York: Warner Books.
Butler, O. (2001). Parable of the talents. New York: Warner Books.
Cornell, D. (2002, June). The本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。