Review of "No Other Planet: Utopian Visions for a Climate-Changed World" by Mathias Thaler. Schlosser, J. A. Political Science Quarterly, 138:609–610, September, 2023. ![Review of "No Other Planet: Utopian Visions for a Climate-Changed World" by Mathias Thaler [link]](https://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "link")
Paper doi abstract bibtex How can utopianism inform a response to the climate crisis? Examining utopianism in political theory and speculative fiction, Mathias Thaler demonstrates how utopianism already functions in both genres. Through sensitive analyses of Bruno Latour; N.K. Jemisin; eco-modernists like Steven Pinker and Kim Stanley Robinson; and eco-pessimists like the Dark Mountain Collective and Margaret Atwood, Thaler shows not just the variety of utopianism but also how utopianism motivates readers toward action, even in what feels like dystopian times.Utopianism, for Thaler, educates one with a desire for life to be otherwise (3). Thaler's analysis proposes three forms of such education: an estranging pedagogy, which “strives to gain distance to reality in the right manner” (81); a galvanizing pedagogy, which “mobilize[s] an audience into resistant action” (84); and a cautioning pedagogy, which “communicates anxiety about the future in the right dosage [italics are Thaler’s]” (85). The vehicle of utopianism's pedagogy is “social dreaming,” a term Thaler borrows from Miguel Abensour to describe a combination of “daydreaming” (aimless, playful speculation) and “world building” (the social or political dimension of such dreaming). Utopianism thus offers both consolation in the dream that life could be otherwise and instruction on how life could be otherwise. According to Thaler, all utopianism, moreover, holds both dystopian and utopian—both negative and positive—elements, a fact overlooked by most critics of utopianism who miss the hopeful moments in dystopias or the open-ended and provisional moments in utopias. Thaler grounds his appreciation of utopianism in this more complex understanding of utopia.
@article{schlosser_review_2023,
title = {Review of "{No} {Other} {Planet}: {Utopian} {Visions} for a {Climate}-{Changed} {World}" by {Mathias} {Thaler}},
volume = {138},
issn = {0032-3195},
shorttitle = {No {Other} {Planet}},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/psquar/qqad101},
doi = {10.1093/psquar/qqad101},
abstract = {How can utopianism inform a response to the climate crisis? Examining utopianism in political theory and speculative fiction, Mathias Thaler demonstrates how utopianism already functions in both genres. Through sensitive analyses of Bruno Latour; N.K. Jemisin; eco-modernists like Steven Pinker and Kim Stanley Robinson; and eco-pessimists like the Dark Mountain Collective and Margaret Atwood, Thaler shows not just the variety of utopianism but also how utopianism motivates readers toward action, even in what feels like dystopian times.Utopianism, for Thaler, educates one with a desire for life to be otherwise (3). Thaler's analysis proposes three forms of such education: an estranging pedagogy, which “strives to gain distance to reality in the right manner” (81); a galvanizing pedagogy, which “mobilize[s] an audience into resistant action” (84); and a cautioning pedagogy, which “communicates anxiety about the future in the right dosage [italics are Thaler’s]” (85). The vehicle of utopianism's pedagogy is “social dreaming,” a term Thaler borrows from Miguel Abensour to describe a combination of “daydreaming” (aimless, playful speculation) and “world building” (the social or political dimension of such dreaming). Utopianism thus offers both consolation in the dream that life could be otherwise and instruction on how life could be otherwise. According to Thaler, all utopianism, moreover, holds both dystopian and utopian—both negative and positive—elements, a fact overlooked by most critics of utopianism who miss the hopeful moments in dystopias or the open-ended and provisional moments in utopias. Thaler grounds his appreciation of utopianism in this more complex understanding of utopia.},
urldate = {2023-10-16},
journal = {Political Science Quarterly},
author = {Schlosser, Joel Alden},
month = sep,
year = {2023},
pages = {609--610},
}
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