Utopias in ethics. Common visions, scientific conceptions, meta-scientific assumptions
Utopias in ethics. Common visions, scientific conceptions, meta-scientific assumptions

Summary/Abstract: Two types of utopia can be distinguished: negative and positive. Firstly, ‘dystopia’ is considered as a chaotic place in both ethical thinking and moral reality. “Morality is in the eyes of the beholder really”, says the young student today and expresses a form of ethical relativism that dates back to ancient Greek philosophy. Common visions in our time and even scientific conceptions support this theory with a number of arguments, i.e. historicism, fact–value dichotomy, some consequences of cultural anthropology, sceptical view of human life, ethical non–cognitivism, majority and trends, moral privacy, moral virtues. Each of these arguments is described and evaluated. Secondly, ‘utopia’ is characterized as an ideal community with a perfect socio–moral system. To establish utopia in ethics, a fresh look is taken at some meta–scientific assumptions. They help to list necessary anthropological clarifications including comments about human dignity. Moral values are then to be understood as a part of reality (not fiction) that can be described and rationally discussed. From such a conception, ethical consequences follow for both the political/educational thinking and the practicing of morality in modern societies.

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