IDEOLOGY UTOPIA - Studyplace

98 Ideolof!:j and Utopia
10. THE QUEST FOR REALI'IY THROUGH
IDEOLOGICAL AND UTOPIAN ANALYSIS
The attempt to escape ideological and utopian distortions is,
in the last analysis, a quest for reality. These two conceptions
provide us with a '6isis for a sound scepticism, and they (an
be put to positive use in avoiding the pitfalls into which
our thinking might lead us. Specifically they can be used to
combat the tendency in our intellectual life to separate
thought from the world of reality, to conceal reality, or to
exceed its limits. Thought should contain neither less nor
more than the reality in whose medium it operates. Just as
the true beauty of a sound literary style consists in expressing
precisely that which is intended-in communicating
neither too little nor too much-so the valid element in our
knowledge!sA~t~l,TI1i.~_e_d.,by."adheriniiQ: 'rat~er--ihan 'dep~i[~~frrQi,u.
gl~, actual ~ituationto be~9mpt~~ended.
In considering the notions of ic.I:eolq&y and ,~..!~p~a, the
question of the nature of reality thrusts itself once again
upon the scene. Both concepiSCOntain the imperative that
every idea must be tested by its congruence with reality.
Mea~while, however, our conception of reality itself has been
~vrsed«"and'~?ai1e(Cinto 9ue~!~!!~ All the conflicting groups
and classes in society seek this reality in their thoughts and
deeds, and it is therefore no wonder that it appears to be
different to each of them. 32 If the problem of dIe nature of
• Regarding the differentiation of ontologies according to social
positions d. my .. Das konservative Denken," loco cit., part ii.
Further, d. P. Eppstein, .. Die Fragestellung nach der Wirklichkeit
im historischen Materialismus," Archiv fur Sozialwissenschaft
und Sozialpolitik, Ix (1928), p. 449 ft.
The careful reader will perhaps note that from this point on
the evaluative conception of ideology tends once more to take on
the form of the non-evaluative, but this, of course, is due to our
intention to discover an evaluative solution. This instability in
the definition of the concept is part of the technique of research.
which might be said to have arrived at maturity and which
therefore refuses to enslave itself to anyone particular standpoint
which would restrict its view. This dy~amic relationism
o~_~~~-'~~,IY.E9.~i!.>l.~_.~~.. F()EI