Utopia as a moral laboratory – an analysis of A. Grayling

The text analyzes the concept of utopia not as an unrealistic fantasy, but as a laboratory of political philosophy that allows for testing the institutional costs of specific value hierarchies. The author indicates that utopia and dystopia are tools used to reveal the effects of consistently applying principles of world organization. Through references to More and Bacon, the article shows how visions of an ideal system become a mirror for reality, challenging the obviousness of current social structures. Particular attention is paid to the threats arising from technocratic optimization, where science and technology cease to be tools of knowledge and instead become instruments of control and the manufacturing of the future, directly threatening human autonomy in the age of digitalization.