What governs the device of the world? Charles Fourier, a distinctive philosopher, answers this question in “Theory of the Four Movements,” offering a doctrine of universal laws of fate that determine the social, animal, organic, and material spheres of existence.
This book, steeped in audacious predictions and detailed pictures of the coming well-being, will be an eye-opener for those who are convinced that reality can be arranged differently.
Charles Fourier—one of the founders of utopian socialism and an original thinker—presents the reader with a sweeping vision of how the world is organized. In “Theory of the Four Movements,” he formulates the idea of universal destinies that direct the development of the world on four levels: social, animal, organic, and material. Calling the civilization of his day only a transitional and defective stage, Fourier argues for the inevitability of movement toward a new, harmonious order. At the heart of this project lies his famous “attraction by passion”: labor becomes a source of pleasure, and people join into phalanxes—perfect communities in which each person’s abilities are revealed. Full of bold forecasts and a carefully drawn image of future happiness, the book has turned into a manifesto for another way of living and has significantly influenced philosophical and social thought.