Abstract

In contrast to the vast literature on the relationships between philosophy and utopia, for which the latter is simply an object of the former, the author shows to what extent philosophy itself can be a matter of utopia, i.e., an essentially utopian discourse, while, on the other hand, being a discourse that can transform reality ideologically. The philosophy of science, from Descartes and Kant to the present, is the framework used to exemplify this new approach, starting with Karl Mannheim’s and Paul Ricoeur’s studies on utopia and its relationship with ideology. The central thesis is that the discourse on sciences has its seat in a “no-place” or a “nowhere”, which is the ideal laboratory for philosophic work, where sciences are reconstructed both epistemologically and ideologically.