Information on the thesis

In the thesis on the basis of interdisciplinary methodology, the specifics of the formation and implementation of the principles of rationalism in the utopian and anti-utopian theories are analyzed. The meaning of utopia and dystopia is revealed not only as political systems but also as symbolic systems, which is a way of existence of political knowledge. Cognition of politics through the prism of utopia and anti-utopia focuses on the human, who is the central subject, the creator and the goal of politics.

Utopia forms an ideal on a rational basis, rejecting irrationality, which causes certain misunderstandings between people and focuses on the comprehension of the human mind. Anti-utopia as a logical continuation of utopia, which is not a reproduction of the negative aspect of the ideal political theory, but an attempt to reconsider the needs and interests of society, and, in accordance with them, ideals. At the same time, anti-utopia for them is not just a parody genre, but a hyperbolized reality.

The distinguished principles of rationality are reflected on two levels: political ontological and political epistemological. Thus, the western tradition of studying not only the institutional but also the cognitive aspect of utopia and dystopia continues in the dissertation. On the ontological level the pyramid of three principles is defined. Those are the principle of usefulness, the principle of felicity and the principle of the common weal. Each of this principles is the logical continuation of the previous one.

Based on the principles of rationalism  it has been determined that utopian and anti-utopian political systems function according to the same scheme, which includes focusing on a person and theirs needs. The principles of rational organization of political life are an inspirational factor, and accordingly utopia and dystopia influence the formation of political institutions, processes and theories.

On the ontological level four principles of rationalism are formed. Those are categorization, symbolization, hyperbolization and paradox. Each of them reveals the specifics of the cognition of politics through the prism of utopia and anti-utopia. Due to their different manifestations, the categories of political science are formed in their modern sense, the system of symbolic understanding of political institutions and phenomena, the focus of the cognitive prism and the finally revealed dialectical connection between objects of political cognition.

In addition, the author traces the transformations of utopia and anti-utopia at the turn of the XX – XXI centuries. For a while, they exist in parallel as two forms of a single whole, differing in value orientations. Being accessible for understanding the forms of existence of political knowledge, utopia and anti-utopia use the Socratic method of cognition, when it is important not to transfer knowledge, but to actively produce it in the cognitive process. In the end, under the influence of postmodern utopia and anti-utopia, they are unstructured, lose their own form, turning into a single utopian-anti-utopian discourse.

The specifics of the influence of utopian and anti-utopian theories on political theory and practice is also analyzed. As an example of the confrontation of two utopian impulses in the twentieth century, the Cold War was considered, where the communist or Marxist utopian impulse embodied in the policy of the Soviet Union is opposed to a democratic one, embodied in idea of world democracy and civil society. Along with this, the expression of utopianism in the political theories of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries on the example of Marxism, the theory of meritocracy and populism was reviewed.

Key words: utopia, anti-utopia, principles of rationalism, utilitarianism, utopian impulse, political epistemology, political ontology, political human.