Utopia and its Scapegoats - The Realist
The last two columns on IW have criticized the Utopianism of our age. We saw in “The Realist Vision” how deeply engrained in our culture the Blank Slate/Noble Savage theory of human nature is. The next column, “The Truth about Human Nature,” revealed that this Utopian vision not only contradicted facts established by the human sciences, but also the very nature of life itself. Human beings do not come into the world as Blank Slates or Noble Savages; rather, our selfish genes have ensured that we are equipped with instincts that enable us to compete effectively in the struggle of life.
People are inclined to be indulgent with Utopian idealists. While they may be naïve, we think, at least their heart is in the right place. Even if their idealism is incompatible with human nature, how can we possibly object to their ambition of establishing a less competitive, more harmonious society? At worst, it seems, such people are harmless dreamers.
Such indulgence is misplaced, however, for Utopianism can be, and has been, profoundly destructive. Utopians’ belief in the perfectibility of human nature prevents us from recognizing our innate limitations. Moreover, the logic of Utopianism requires scapegoats. If human beings are meant to live in harmony with each other, someone must be to blame for our current unharmonious state. Utopians must therefore invent an agent of radical evil responsible for introducing unhappiness into the world and preventing us from being the Noble Savages we naturally are
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