Possible Worlds

Download or read book Possible Worlds written by Riikka Forsström and published by Finnish Literature Society. This book was released on 2002 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The utopian novel L'An deux mille quatre cent quarante. R�ve s'il en fut jamais by the French author Louis-S�bastien Mercier (1740-1814) was the first imaginary portrayal of an ideal society projected into the remote future. It reveals a vision of twenty-fifth century Paris, and a world transformed into a community of general happiness, well-being and progress. In searching for answers for the problem of evil and the conditions of happiness on earth in his contemporary society, Mercier's utopia also offers a generally valid analysis concerning the means and aims of a happy life. On the other hand, the present study indicates that Mercier's vision of the "best of possible worlds" also reveals a great deal about the reasons why the prevailing eighteenth-century conception of happiness, founded on the Enlightenment ideal of rational control, already contained the seeds of its own destruction. This investigation by Riikka Forsstr�m sheds light on Mercier's utopian vision both as critical mirror image analysing its own society, and as an exploration of possible futures. In his utopia, Mercier deals with a wide range of subjects, from the needfulness of political reforms, and economic theories, to the collision of a spiritual with a more secular- scientific world view, and even addresses women's position in society. He makes us reflect on the limits of the possible and how the possibilities could be transformed as part of a living culture.