We have read "WE" and will be reading Brave New World and other Dystopias. We have discussed Solzhynitsyn and communism. We should be starting to think about what the differences are between the utopian mind and its alternative (s).
Kirk seems very much to be insisting that his mind is not utopian. Indeed, Russell Kirk says he has a "Gothic Mind" as opposed to an Enlightenment mind. "I would have given any number of neo-classical pediments for one poor battered gargoyle." What do you make of this? Why is Kirk's imagination not utopian (or is it?) What are the dangers and possibilities of having a "utopian mind"?
If people like Huxley, Orwell, Zamyatin, Chesterton, and others are writing "dystopias," then what are they trying to tell us about our way of thinking? What are they trying to tell us about how we should think of the world? How to Solzhenitsyn and Kirk and Burke fit into this? Why is it the modern world that gives us this genre of "dystopia"?
Study Kirk and think about all this during the week. React as you are able. . .
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I agree with Kirk in thinking that we all have dystopian imaginations. I think deep down we all want to be leaders, even if that means going against what is established and considered perfect. Everyone has different ideas of the concepts; freedom, equality and liberty. Even Plato would agree that many people can not reach that metaphysical realm that holds the definitions of truth on these concepts. Since we all have differing views on these moral concepts, how are we ever to stand up and agree with an overarching concept or utopia? Thus, we do have dystopian imaginations because we want to be leaders and because we can't agree on the idea of a perfect utopia.
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