Utopian universals in the context of the concept of “information society”
This article explores the problem of utopian universals applicable to the concept of “information society”. The author interprets utopian universals as most general representations on the best social structure that became widespread within a particular epistemological tradition. The subject of this research is the determination and evolution of the universal social attributes characteristic to projects of best social structure within the epistemological tradition of scientific rationality developed throughout the XVI – XXI centuries. From T. Mohr's "Utopia" to D. Bell's "post-industrial Society" and M. Castells '"Information Age", the author traces the universal features of social attribution. The researcher comes to the conclusion that projects of an optimal or ideal social structure, changing their concrete form of expression, retain a utopian character throughout the entire line of development of the epistemological tradition of scientific rationality. Utopian universals of aggregation and codification of theoretical knowledge, transformation of science into the major driving force of political and economic development, transition of power to the wisemen-philosophers, collective maximally egalitarian and democratic participation in decision-making is the attributes that to greater or lesser degree are inherent to the utopias of Western civilization, beginning with the work of T. More. These same attributes retain in the concept of information society, which allows raising the question of the need for critical revision as a theoretical scientific concept and practical political project of the information society.