Charles Fourier

French utopian socialist and philosopher (1772–1837)

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Charles Fourier was a French philosopher who lived from 1772 to 1837 and developed influential ideas about organizing society into cooperative communities called "phalansteries." His utopian socialist vision imagined a radically reorganized world where work would be pleasurable and people's natural desires would be fulfilled, making him an important early figure in the history of socialist thought.

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Quotes

“Wisdom, virtue, morality, all these have fallen out of fashion: everybody worships at the shrine of commerce.”
“Hitherto men have speculated vaguely on the unity of universes; it is now about to be demonstrated by reasoning from the passional world to material, guided by the analogy which exists between the two.”
“There was very little that prevented the vandalism of 1793 from suddenly producing a second revolution as marvelous as the first was horrible. The whole human race was approaching its release; the civilized, barbarian, and savage order would have disappeared forever if the Convention, which trampled down all prejudices, had not bowed down before the only one that had to be destroyed, the institution of marriage.”
“It is certain that nature inclines us toward the amorous orgy, just as much as toward the gastronomic orgy, and that while both are blameworthy in the excess, they would become praiseworthy in an order in which they could be equilibrated.”
“An empire derives no advantage from the caresses of two turtledoves who spend a year cooing to each other in public meetings.”

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Article

François Marie Charles Fourier (/ˈfʊrieɪ, -iər/; French: [ʃaʁl fuʁje]; 7 April 1772 – 10 October 1837) was a French philosopher, an influential early socialist thinker, and one of the founders of utopian socialism. Some of his views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have become mainstream in modern society. For instance, Fourier is credited with having originated the word feminism in 1837.

Fourier's social views and proposals inspired a movement of intentional communities. Among them in the United States were the community of Utopia, Ohio; La Reunion near present-day Dallas, Texas; Lake Zurich, Illinois; the North American Phalanx in Red Bank, New Jersey; Brook Farm in West Roxbury, Massachusetts; the Community Place and Sodus Bay Phalanx in New York State; Silkville, Kansas, and several others. In Guise, France, he influenced the Familistery of Guise [fr; de; pt]. Fourier later inspired a diverse array of revolutionary thinkers and writers.