Futuring: The Exploration of the Future by Cornish Edward

Author:Cornish, Edward [Cornish, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: World Future Society
Published: 2005-10-02T16:00:00+00:00

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How the Future Became What It Used to Be

The idea of progress owes much to the Greek philosopher Plato, who stressed the importance of having the right ideas—not just the correct facts about past events. Good ideas can lead to a better world.

We can improve our ideas by means of a critical inquiry into our current beliefs as well as whatever ideas we develop in the course of our inquiry. In a series of written dialogues, Plato showed how this could be done, and his method of critical inquiry is still used in serious decision making.

Plato also made another important contribution to thinking about the future: He developed the concept of an ideal society in which there would be perfect justice. We now would call his ideal society a utopia, but Plato developed his concept before there was a word for it. His ideal society is described in his greatest work, The Republic, in which he seeks to answer the question, “What is justice and how can we achieve it?” Plato suggested that, in the perfect city, wisdom and love of wisdom would dominate. Passion and love of glory would be subordinated to reason.

Since Plato’s day, his vision of a better future society has not only fascinated readers but stimulated many of them to come up with their own ideas for a better way to organize human societies. “It is no extravagance to claim, that the entire body of utopian fiction is little more than a series of variations on Plato,” comments British historian I.F. Clarke. “As the first in the field he was able to present—once and for all—the basic dilemma that puts power and passion into the dullest utopia—the eternal conflict between individual desires and public necessities, between the happiness of the citizen and the security of the state.”

But the really exciting thing about Plato’s idea of an ideal community was that it demonstrated that people could imagine a better future society, discuss with others how it might work, and then—perhaps—actually create it! Human life might be improved in a really big way.

The Idea of Progress

Utopia got its name when, centuries after Plato, Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) followed in Plato’s tradition by writing a description of a land called Utopia (Greek for “no place”). In More’s concept, Utopia had such features as community of goods, a national system of education, and work for everybody. Modern readers may be surprised to find that More’s ideal community also included monarchy and slavery, but like all utopias it reflected the culture in which the author lived. At the same time, More’s version of monarchy was startlingly modern. Each city in Utopia had a “prince” who was elected by the elected representatives of the people from a list of four men nominated by the people of the four quarters of the city, according to historian-futurist W. Warren Wagar. The prince served for life unless he had to be deposed for “aiming at tyranny.” Except for the life term, it’s pretty much like the parliamentary system now in place in the United Kingdom, Wagar says.

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