Genuine utopias have been regarded as imaginative blueprints for a future ideal state since 1516, when the English philosopher and statesman Thomas More (1478-1535) published his novel “Utopia”. Then, as now, it was and is about a form of democratic social order in which social justice, physical and mental health, general education and common property for all people worldwide are fundamentally striven for. Three hundred years later, the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) made this connection between social progress and utopias clear when he said, “Progress is only the realization of utopias.”
From October 24 to 26, 2025, the conference “Progressive Utopias” at the University of Göttingen will deal intensively with the current role and significance of utopias in science and research as well as in politics and society. Viable social utopias will play an important role in the discussions. The 2008 global financial crisis made it clear to many people how important well-founded criticism of the prevailing economically based social power is. Or as the philosopher Ernst Bloch (1885-1977) explained in The Principle of Hope: “[…] capitalism is unhealthy – even for the capitalists.”
This conference in October 2025 aims to address the general public with its topics, especially young people. The speakers come from the fields of science, culture, politics, trade unions and progressive social movements.
Since, as Max Horkheimer (1895-1973) already emphasized, every utopia has two sides – “… it is the critique of what is and the presentation of what should be.” – all speakers will devote themselves to the following topics and subsequent discussions with appropriate depth and breadth – the conference follows Bloch’s slogan “Utopia is thinking forward”:
(a) The dismantling of bourgeois democracies in Europe is progressing rapidly: Is the very idea of democracy at the brink of collapse? How can genuine democratic conditions be achieved in the face of extreme inequality in the distribution of property, ownership and wealth?
Let’s think ahead: How can democracy (from the Greek for “rule of the people”) be fully realized?
(b) Climate crisis; damage and destruction of ecological systems, loss of biodiversity: What is happening to the climate and our common natural resources that are so important for our survival?
Let’s think ahead: How do we prevent significant climate damage? – How do we achieve climate justice in terms of space and time?
(c) The neglect of basic research for the common good: What do the latest US scientific restrictions, budget cuts, and other political interventions and measures against scientists mean for the population?
Let us think ahead: How can the promotion of basic research for the common good fundamentally contribute to the democratization of science itself, but also of society?
(d) Military armament as a dangerous path: New hegemonic territorial claims and massive military armament undoubtedly pose a great danger to world peace. Does the current massive military armament not ultimately undermine any lasting peaceful coexistence internationally?
Let us think ahead: Which utopias and which policies enable a future perspective for a sustainable and socially just world without wars?
(e) The history of progressive utopian ideas: Why are such visions of the future and musings scientifically and socially extremely important? What are the goals of often suppressed socialist, anarchist and other socially transformative, progressive utopias – and what can be learned from their previous attempts at implementation?
DLet us think ahead: If we want to improve the world and the common good, do we not have to rethink such utopias in science, politics and society?
This conference in October 2025 aims to fundamentally counter the currently unfolding dystopias of regression and, above all, to encourage people of different age groups and generations to turn again to the fundamental ideas and practices of enlightenment and freethinking. For example, the philosopher and scientist Ludwig Büchner (1824-1899), the women’s rights activist Helene Stöcker (1869-1943), the writer Carl von Ossietzky (1889 – 1938) or the Marxist Karl Liebknecht (1871 – 1919) and the socialist politician Clara Zetkin (1857 – 1933) were prominent freethinkers committed to the Enlightenment who fundamentally believed in the critical examination of all facts. They strove for a society that would encourage independent thought and scientific reasoning, and guarantee human rights, equal democratic rights, separation of powers and freedom of belief for all.
Our conference at the University of Göttingen from October 24 to 26, 2025, aims to look ahead to the future of society with well-founded information and a critical evaluation of creative discussions on the development of the theory and practice of progressive utopias. We want to know: How can the connection between individual social needs and political interests on the one hand and the corresponding social changes needed on the other be understood by those affected in contemporary society, disseminated publicly and creatively developed?
The aim of the conference is to seek and perhaps even find answers to the question “How do we want to live in the future?”