Utopia is defined as a place where everything is perfect and people who live in this place live in great

harmony and enjoy a prosperous life. Some people believe that utopia cannot exist in the real world

therefore they have come up with another term, as Shermer (2014 ) statates, “protopia” which

indicates the state that is better than yesterday and maybe slightly better than today also. It may be

possible to imagine what a utopic will might look like but it can be said that imagining photopia is much

harder. There are differing ideas regarding utopia and protopia and the possibilities of such terms to exist

in the real world. This essay will discuss the opposing views about utopia and protopia by comparing

their advantages and disadvantages for the humanity.

Utopia can provide a positive feeling to the people and people can achieve their goals by imaging their

perfect places or perfect state of happiness. This can help societies to achieve their goals or work towards

their goals more eagerly. For instance, colonized states often created their own utopias against the

dystopias that were forced to them by the colonizing countries. The new utopia for the colonized

countries acted as a tool to help them get their freedom and make an effort to create their own perfect

country. The history is full of examples of the countries that forced their own way of life to the countries

that they colonized such as England which tried to turn India and South Africa into” heavens” for the

native citizens. However, the history also reveals that the result was nowhere near what was promised and

people only witnessed wars and discrimination. It is possible to suggest that the entire indigenous rights

movement is actually based on the utopias that were created by the indigenous people themselves.

Moreover, the social movements such as the women’s movement is also driven by the feminist utopic

views (Sargent, 2006:13). It can be said that utopic views can create a state of social dreaming which can

act as the driving force that will help people in the society to work towards a common goal that they have

created together. However, there are also disagreements regarding the usefulness of utopia for the people.

In fact, as Sargent (2006) clearly points out that there are acceptable reasons behind the opposing views

as many utopic idea that emerged during the 20 th century failed dramatically causing more problems to

the people. For instance ideas such as communism and fascism could not stay as utopias for long and they
turned into their own dystopias. The failure of communist utopia has caused the free market utopia to be

born but this new utopia was a dystopia for many people (Sargent, 2006). These examples may be

considered as solid reasons to be against the idea of utopia however as Sargent (2006) also states it is hard

to suggest that every utopia will create its dystopia and destroy hope for everyone. One of the best

approaches to tackle the situation of failing utopias is to create new utopias to follow and work for.

Besides, it is also important to understand that a utopia is a search for the better and this must be a

continuous effort as the aim to reach the perfection is not an easy task. It is important to consider the

utopias as a photograph that captures the perfect moment in the future rather than depictions of

unchanging perfection. Only then it may be possible to use the utopias as a driving force that illustrates

the perfect state in the future that people wish to reach (Sargent, 2006:12-3). Based on this definition it

can be suggested that utopias can be seen as flexible images of perfection that needs to be replaced with a

new one when the old one fails.

On the other hand, there is another approach called protopia that contradicts with the definition of utopia.

It is believed that utopias as idealized visions of perfect society which is considered as something that

cannot be reached and the concept of perfect can show differences from people to people. More

importantly, as Shermer (2014) suggests that people are imperfect creatures therefore it is impossible to

talk about a perfect place that assures happiness for everyone. Shermer (2014) also claims that the

concept of utopia is not suitable for the human beings as the human beings are problematic creatures and

they will always find a way to redefine the concept of perfect from their minds. The examples from the

history also supports the idea that utopias cannot go further than being just imaginary ideas as the reality

does not allow those images to become real. According to Shermer (2014), the history shows that people

have managed to turn the utopias into their own dystopias which caused a problem for the world rather

than solving the problems. It is important to understand that people should try to make today better than

yesterday even if the difference is very small. The world should be accepted with its problems as the

world is the creation of problems that people have caused (Shermer, 2014). Shermer (2014) points out
that the idea of protopia suggests people should be accepted with their problems and rather than working

for a utopic ideas that will later on turn into a dystopia, people should try to make the day better than

before. Moreover, utopias are often seen vulnerable as the social theory that it suggests contradicts with

the personal values in the long term. For instance, utopias can be based on collective ownership,

communal work, authoritarian rule and command-and-control economies can be in the opposite direction

with the people’s desire for autonomy, individual freedom and choice. Besides, the history shows that

utopian ideologies have caused the death of millions of innocent people. According to Shermer (2014),

revolutionary Marxism in Cambodia, North Korea and many states in South America and Africa caused

the deaths of millions of people due to murders, genocides, civil wars and ethnic cleanings because it is

believed that the perfect society can be established only when the recalcitrant dissenters are eliminated.

When the people begin killing other people in order to achieve their utopian dream the utopia becomes a

dystopian nightmare for others in the same society (Shermer, 2014:89-91). As the main reason for these

utopic movements to fail was the poisoning effect of the power that the leaders of these movements held

in their hands. It is believed that the desired to hold on to the power can be much more dangerous for the

utopic dreams than the external factors that directly aim to destroy them (Hodak, 2008:67).

Consequently, it can be said that utopia for some can be a dystopia for others so it is pointless to follow a

utopian dream as it can cause a nightmare in the future, therefore, it is important to aim for a better day

than yesterday.

In conclusion, utopia and dystopia are two concepts that live together and with the wrong approaches a

utopia can turn into a dystopia for entire society or a group in that society. The dream of the perfect place

is irresistible for everyone but if this dream cannot manage to be flexible it may face the danger of turning

into a nightmare. It is important to accept the human beings with their problems and work towards a

better society by trying to work out these problems rather than pretending that human are unproblematic

perfect creatures.
References

Hodak, M. (2008). [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/2008/04/10/why-utopias-fail-

oped-utopia08-cx_mh_0410hodak.html#4808139578dd [Accessed 8 May 2019].

Sargent, L. T. (2006). In defense of utopia. Diogenes, 53(1), 11-17.

Shermer, M. (2014). Heavens on Earth. Scientific American, 310(2), 77-77.