Review – The curious enlightment of profesor Caritat Introduction Everyone likes to fantasize about different rules that change the dynamics of a society. Well, the book written by Steven Lukes, The curious enlightment of profesor Caritat does exactly that by providing a story that happens in multiple regions, each in which a certain school of thought controls every action of every citizen. In this book, Lukes is trying to smartly show us how a community would look like if everyone were to follow just one set of ideas. That is how the main character professor Caritat gets to know the cities of Utilitaria, Militaria, Libertaria and Communitaria, only to understand that the perfect world can’t be found on an ideology but in dialogue and tolerance. Summary of the argument The book follows Nicholas Caritat, who is a philosopher and historian specialized in the Enlightenment, who lives in Militaria. For reasons related to the name of the country, he ends up in prison. A minority opposed to the military power manages to get him out of there with a mission: to travel to find the best of all possible worlds. He then visits Utilitaria, where utilitarianism is followed step by step, leading to a radical society where although most of the people live happy, the minorities suffer. The book continues this idea of what would happen if certain group of ideas prevailed over the rest, and that is how Caritat gets to Communitaria and Libertaria, other cities with flawed systems that lead to reflection in the reader. About the author Steven Lukes is a professor of sociology at New York University. Who has also taught at Oxford and the London School of Economics, along with other prestigious universities. He has published several political and sociological books like Power: A radical view and The curious enlightment of Professor Caritat Strength The main strength of the book is that it tells a story rather than focusing on explaining the theory behind every region visited by professor Caritat. In a way, he is committed to showing through brilliant situations and dialogue everything that could go wrong if the government of a region decided to strictly follow the principles of schools of thought such as utilitarianism or liberalism. The reader benefits from the story because they might never thought through some of the flaws of each systems and the consequences of sticking to an idea without questioning it or criticizing it. Weakness The book fails in creating an appealing character, he is a really passive person throughout much of the book and although he helps us know when something is going wrong, he is basically a narrator whose presence doesn’t seem relevant. As a result, the reader finds the rest of the characters way more interesting and even locations become more appealing. Conclusion The curious enlightment of professor Caritat is a book about ideas and what is wrong when you go radical on them. Although it is a fiction work as well as a political critic, it doesn’t commit to one or the other as much as the reader would like to. It is a reall fun to read hybrid, and even when the dynamic the character is following becomes tedious, the main lesson gets through: ideas are meant to be understood and discussed, not praised. What makes some nations or communities great is the intention of engaging in debates and acknowledging that everyone deserves a voice.
