Out of Utopia? Hans Achterhuis on Welfare and Happiness (with an extract from ‘The Legacy of Utopia' by Hans Achterhuis)

The words ‘welfare and happiness' set the tone for the book with which the Dutch philosopher, Hans Achterhuis (1942-), would achieve public recognition in 1980. Later on, iIn his book on utopia Achterhuis shows extreme reserve regarding any blueprint that claims to be able to establish the ideal society by means of positive measures. As a professor at the technologically-oriented University of Twente, Achterhuis started to focus on the philosophy of technology in the 1990s. Gradually the distrust of technology inspired in him by the 1970s shifted to a more positive standpoint in which he not only recognises the merits of technical-scientific progress, but also states that culture and society are not subject willy-nilly to its evolution.