Conclusion

The final chapter summarizes the ideas presented in the previous chapters, highlights important issues, and opens up new perspectives for music education research. It discusses the utopian energy of music education and presents ideas about how to reconceptualize music education in view of social change. It reconnects the concepts developed in the previous chapters with significant notions in utopian studies to highlight the potential of this new music education approach, particularly in view of global crises. This final chapter tries to encourage utopian thinking to refine music education’s societal mission, but without forgetting or marginalizing its artistic and aesthetic dimensions.

Introduction

The chapter introduces the topic of music education and social change and shows the need for an interdisciplinary study. It discusses research related to social change and music education critically and shows possible directions for new investigations. It develops the theoretical framework of utopia and utopian thinking as an innovative approach to music education and social change. It offers a much-needed scholarly foundation for music education and social change. Furthermore, this chapter presents the purpose of the present study, and the specific contribution this book will make to music education theory and practice. Finally, it offers a brief overview of the book chapters.

The Power of Utopian Thinking

This chapter develops a notion of utopia and utopian thinking which is useful for reconsidering music education and social change. The first section analyzes what utopia is. It shows the ambivalence of this concept, as both literary genre and method. It emphasizes its relatedness to various fields of research such as sociology and thus opens possible links for music education. The second section is concerned with utopia and political thinking, critically discussing the significance of utopia for political theory and philosophy. Their connection is much deeper than thought, but also needs a differentiated and critical perspective. The third section approaches utopia and the arts, elaborating their significance for artists of various times and genres.

ELEMENTS OF ANTI-UTOPIA IN THE NOVEL "RADIO NIGHT" BY YU. ANDRUKHOVYCH

The article deals with the relevance of anti-utopian discourse in the twentieth century, which is considered a time of anti-utopian social thinking in view of historical reality. The study outlines the problems of transformation of the genre of anti-utopia in the postmodern era on the basis of the most notable research on the material of modern Ukrainian prose. It is emphasized that anti-utopia in the XXI century expands the boundaries of its existence as a literary genre, becoming a socio-cultural phenomenon of perception of reality. The list of characteristic features of the genre of literary anti-utopia is given. Based on the analysis of the novel "Radio Night" by Yu. Andrukhovych, the author finds out that this text contains features of both utopia and anti-utopia. The utopian thinking embodied in the work is based on an optimistic perception of the past, anti-utopianism is rooted in the area of doubt, which emphasizes the negative aspects of society and social consciousness as a result of the effect of dependence on previous development ("path dependence") or the effect of track, social inertia, when the negative attitudes that have been developed over the decades make positive progress impossible. It is noted in the article that the anti-utopian nature of the novel by Yu. Andrukhovych is manifested in the reflection of despair in the possibility of embodying the ideals of the Revolution of Dignity, illusory human freedom, the theme of confrontation to the digital sphere, determinism of human destiny, the modality of constant movement, the idea of an artificial man, the creation of a collective negative image of the state. It is stated that the fate of the hero is in the center of the plot, the attention is focused on the consequences of resistance to the system for the privacy of the average person. The article points out that the genre variety of the novel "Radio Night" testifies to the process of genre diffusion in the dynamics of genre transformations: elements of utopia evolve into elements of anti-utopia, micro-elements of science fiction genre are involved, which can be classified as included genre. The synthetic nature of the genre of the text by Yu. Andrukhovych is stated, a conclusion is made about the unfolding of a genre variety of escapic metautopia or postutopia in the novel.

Kantian Ethics and Utopian Thinking

Is Kantian ethics guilty of utopian thinking? Good and bad uses of utopian ideals are distinguished, an apparent path is traced from Rousseau’s unworkable political ideal to Kant’s ethical ideal, and three versions of Kant’s Categorical Imperative (and counterparts in common moral discourse) are examined briefly with special attention on the kingdom of ends formulation. Following summary of previous development of this central idea, several objections suggesting that this idea encourages bad utopian thinking are briefly addressed: that we cannot count on everyone to follow ideal rules, that even conscientious people disagree in their moral judgments, and that theories that allow exceptions to familiar moral rules create a “slippery slope” to consequentialism.

Beyond Duty

This is a collection of essays on Kantian moral theory and practical ethics with the aim of developing Kantian ethics and making it accessible and relevant to contemporary problems. With a new emphasis on ideals beyond the strictest requirements of moral duty, the book expands the core aspects of Kantian ethics and offers a broader perspective on familiar moral problems. Some essays explain Kantian concepts, others review work of leading contemporary philosophers, and still others raise challenging ethical questions for more general audiences. Having previously written on finding value in nature, Hill develops an ethical ideal of appreciation of people and their lives, distinguishing this from both respect and beneficence. Hill argues that this has important implications about how we should think about close personal relationships, such as friendships, families, and relationships with people with disabilities. The first part focuses on Kantian moral theory. Topics include the structure of Kant’s argument in the Groundwork, his idea of imperfect duties to oneself, autonomy, and human dignity. Rawls’ constructivism is defended against O’Neill’s objections, and Kantian ethics defended against the charge of utopian thinking. The second part focuses on practical ethics. Topics include the ethics of suicide, philanthropy, conscientious objection, and tragic choices when it seems that every alternative offends against human dignity. An essay on moral education contrasts Kantian and Rawlsian perspectives. Another essay traces the role of self-respect in Rawls’ theory of justice and contrasts a Kantian conception. Two final essays develop and illustrate the ideal of appreciation.

The Public Service Media and Public Service Internet Utopias Survey Report

This chapter presents the results of the Public Service Media and Public Service Internet Utopias Survey, an exploratory survey conducted by Christian Fuchs. The survey was the first step in the process that led to the Public Service Media and Public Service Internet Manifesto. The exploratory survey was focused on gathering ideas about the future of the Internet and public service media. The survey was qualitative in nature and focused on three themes: communication, digital media and the Internet in an ideal world; progressive reforms of public service media; public service media and the Internet in 2030. There were 141 responses. The survey results informed and structured the further work process that led to the Public Service Media and Public Service Internet Manifesto. The survey provides ample evidence for the importance of Public Service Media for the future of the democratic public sphere and shows that the Public Service Internet is the key issue for the future of Public Service Media. The survey inspired concrete utopian thinking among the respondents in order to generate new ideas about the future of the Internet. The exploratory survey was focused on gathering ideas about the future of the Internet and public service media. The survey was qualitative in nature and focused on three themes: communication, digital media and the Internet in an ideal world; progressive reforms of public service media; public service media and the Internet in 2030. There were 141 responses. The survey results informed and structured the further work process that led to the Public Service Media and Public Service Internet Manifesto. The survey provides ample evidence for the importance of Public Service Media for the future of the democratic public sphere and shows that the Public Service Internet is the key issue for the future of Public Service Media. The survey inspired concrete utopian thinking among the respondents in order to generate new ideas about the future of the Internet.

Utopia Without the Law – Why Is It Impossible?

<p class="Standard"><span lang="EN-GB">The academic character of the article is connected with the attempt to answer the question asked in the title: Utopia without the law – is it possible? The theoretical arguments provided by the author lead to an affirmative answer to this question and allow for formulating the following thesis: there is no utopia without the law. The law is not only present in utopias, both positive and negative ones (anti-utopias and dystopias) but also, to a great extent, determines their existence and functioning. As a result, it links utopian thinking to reality. Any answer to this question is possible and justifiable in the academic discourse. According to the author of this article not only the law is present in the utopia but the law in the utopia must exist. The essence of the law in utopias is justice, but there is not justice in utopias without wisdom. The Bible, Roman law and philosophical and legal reflection were the sources of an approach to law for the creators of utopia. Referring to the views of such thinkers as: Plato, Immanuel Kant, Rudolf von Ihering, Gustav Radbruch, Karl R. Popper, Bronisław Baczko, the author states that the law is an integral part of both worlds: the utopian world and real world. So, there is not utopia without the law as an idea of jusctice, implemented into the social life of the people who are intelligent beings.</span></p>

Internet users’ utopian/dystopian imaginaries of society in the digital age: Theorizing critical digital literacy and civic engagement

This article proposes a theoretical framework for how critical digital literacy, conceptualized as incorporating Internet users’ utopian/dystopian imaginaries of society in the digital age, facilitates civic engagement. To do so, after reviewing media literacy research, it draws on utopian studies and political theory to frame utopian thinking as relying dialectically on utopianism and dystopianism. Conceptualizing critical digital literacy as incorporating utopianism/dystopianism prescribes that constructing and deploying an understanding of the Internet’s civic potentials and limitations is crucial to pursuing civic opportunities. The framework proposed, which has implications for media literacy research and practice, allows us to (1) disentangle users’ imaginaries of civic life from their imaginaries of the Internet, (2) resist the collapse of critical digital literacy into civic engagement that is understood as inherently progressive, and (3) problematize polarizing conclusions about users’ interpretations of the Internet as either crucial or detrimental to their online engagement.