utopia

Marx Engels Writings and Related Works

Plato's "Socrates' Dialectic Kriton" Synopsis and Impressions - Surprised at the similarities between Master and Disciple Socrates Plato and Master and Disciple Honen and Shinran...

Plato wrote "The State" in reaction to the unjust execution of his respected teacher Socrates.

The work "Socrates' Defense" is about why Socrates had to be executed.

Shinran himself, like Plato, experienced firsthand how his respected teacher had to be unreasonably punished.

In part, Shinran wrote his main work "Kyogyoshinsho" in order to refute such irrationality.

The similarity of the "regret" experienced by Plato and Shinran was a thrill for me.
Marx Engels Writings and Related Works

Plato's "The State" Synopsis and Comments - The prototype of state management by the elite. Managed society had already begun here.

The main reason I wanted to read this book is that his view of the nation was a precursor to utopian thought.

It was very interesting to see how Plato's "The State" had a profound impact on the European psyche, leading to Thomas More's later "Utopia," and from there to the world of the visionary socialists, Marx, Lenin and Stalin.

This book used to frustrate me, but it is totally different when I have a sense of purpose that I have to read it now.

This reading made me realize that "having a purpose" is a good spice in reading.
Marx Engels Writings and Related Works

Thomas More's "Utopia" Synopsis and Comments - Dystopia already from the beginning of Utopia?

Utopia" is a word that is familiar to us today, and the man who coined it is Thomas More.

In utopia, a day's work is six hours and no more. However, the daily schedule, including work, is managed under strict supervision, which is quite dystopian in our sense of the word. It is exactly like Big Brother in 1984.

Yes, the utopian novel was dystopian from its very beginnings. This was a surprise to me when I read it.
Marx Engels Writings and Related Works

Yojiro Ishii, "From Science to Imagination: Fourier Revisited" - Who is Fourier, the famous imaginary socialist who described utopia?

There are few reference books on Fourier, and the ones we can get our hands on are limited. But among them, this book is recommended to read as an introduction. Fourier himself is a very difficult person to understand, so even the contents of this book have some difficult parts, but it is still a good book to get a general idea of the subject.
Marx Engels Writings and Related Works

Saint-Simon's "Doctrinal Questions and Answers of the Industrialists" Summary and Comments - The main work of Saint-Simon, one of the visionary socialists.

The world is made up of producers, or industrialists. That is why the status of the industrialist must be recognized."

The idea that industrialists were the ones who would lead the world was carried on by his later disciples and flourished during the Second Empire of Napoleon III, which began in 1852.

In this sense, this work, which declares that "it is the industrialists who make the world," is of great significance.