Hans Achterhuis

Hans Achterhuis is professor of general philosophy at the University of Twente. His publications are De markt van welzijn en geluk (The Well-Being and Prosperity Market, 1975), Arbeid, een eigenaardig medicijn (Work, a Peculiar Medicine, 1984), Het rijk der schaarste. Van Thomas Hobbes tot Michel Foucault (The Realm of Scarcity. From Thomas Hobbes to Michel Foucault, 1988) and Natuur tussen mythe en techniek (Nature, between Myth and Technology, 1995). He is also co-author of Van stoommachine tot cyborg (From Steam Engine to Cyborg, 1997). In 2008 he published Met alle geweld: een filosofische zoektocht (By Force: A Philosophical Quest), followed in 2010 by De utopie van de vrije markt uit 2010.

Utopia’s Heritage

(Ambo Anthos, 1998, 444 pages)

‘No century before ours began with such lofty ideals, and no century saw its expectations end in so much bloodshed. These things are inextricably bound by a grim logic,’ writes the philosopher Hans Achterhuis at the end of De erfenis van de utopie. In this broadly conceived book, he mounts an impressive argument showing why these two things are so closely related. He discusses countless utopias and dystopias, from Plato’s Republic to Callenbach’s Ecotopia, and enlists a wide range of political and philosophical thinkers to guide him in his search for the catastrophic secret behind these systems.

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Hans Achterhuis

Utopia’s Heritage

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