A NEW HETEROTOPIA
We first published this entry in June, 2013. We’ve now revised it in order to give it more clarity and consistency with the larger picture of the philosophical thesis we’re developing …
Michel Foucault, wrestling with the problem of the crisis of space, and, subsequently, the idea of the real and imaginary in spatial terms, came up with the concept of heterotopia to describe a place that is real and unreal at the same time – as opposed to the Utopia which is imaginary only and does not exist.
In his essay Foucault lists the type of places that fit this dual-quality criterion, but we feel he stopped short in his conclusions. Foucault in a sense could not see the forest for the trees, for the fabric of our civilisation itself is heterotopic and, consequently, so is our human condition. We live a dual reality existence that embraces reality (that which can be found in a space) and the imaginary (that which exists in no space) at the same time. In a sense then, Foucault says nothing new, and nothing deeply profound. Nevertheless, we think it opens the door to perceiving the concept of Idealism from a new angle. As such, we would like to keep Foucault’s term but redefine it.
Heterotopia, for us, now becomes that which exists in a space that was conceived from non-space. Or, in other words, that which was brought into the physical world, born from an idea.
Civilisation, from the human point of view, is a thing edified from certain human fantasies in order to concentrate power and wealth in the hands of the few. Yet, at the same time, the demos, the people, or the civilian population, seen from civilisation’s point of view, is also a heterotopic construct. The demos is an ideated form of humanity that has emerged out of the desires of civilisation itself. The Power that runs civilisation began with its selfish-needs’ fantasy of what the human race could be used for, and turned them into a heterotopic reality. The imaginary once created of course solidifies and becomes more and more absolutely real with time, but, in its essence, it is always that which was born from imaginings.
To think of the people as something to be exploited for one’s own gain and for the maintenance of its own heterotopic mega-construction, is a depressing pessimism. Nevertheless, the fact that human reality is an imaginative construct also bears very positive seeds.
If a civilisation serving Power can be imagined and constructed from that idea, then so can a future civilisation serving the whole of humanity be construed and made real in space. The greater our technological capacity grows the deeper should be our faith in our ability to create any kind of reality we wish.
Nevertheless, such a belief seems to frighten us more than inspire us. We not only have dreams to build, we also have horrible recurring nightmares. The idea of crashing once more into a Quixotic impossibility, a new Third Reich or a new Communist hell of terror and bureaucracy, paralyses us. The idea of the collective dreams, our collective ego-projections of grandeur, terrify us.
To create our own Heterotopia we need to overcome this fear. Overcome the fear and then imagine the future.
To create the future, we need to imagine it first.
To create a purposeful future for humanity, we need to have an idea what human purpose is. What is the purpose of humanity?
