ABSTRACT
The expression utopisches Bewusstsein was translated as Utopian mentality, which further blurs the relationships between Utopian consciousness and false consciousness. Karl Mannheim distinguishes four stages in the development of utopian consciousness: the chiliastic, humanitarian-liberal, conservative, and socialist-communist stages. His analysis of liberal and socialist utopia is of limited originality. According to Mannheim, in the liberal utopia, in the humanitarian idea as contrasted with Chiliastic ecstasy, there is a relative approximation to the 'here and now'. The introduction of the concept of "transcendence of the social being" into the critique of utopian consciousness, conveys the same concern. The classic concept of utopia is potentially a source of political egocentricity; it is generally the "dereistic" desire of the opponent or at least of a rival that is branded as utopian. Mannheim had foreseen the withering away of the utopian dimension of political programs, but he was by no means enthusiastic about this perspective.
