It seems to be a natural task for any normative social theory to provide an account of the basic structure of a political community in which human beings can flourish. To the extent that this structure represents an ideal, it also seems natural to interpret normative social theory as a rationally grounded utopia. Nevertheless, it is a striking feature of contemporary practical philosophy that “being utopistic” often counts as a criticism about any normative project, while the popularity of dystopias representing the gloomy future of human societies grows. The chapter is an attempt to understand this phenomenon from the perspective of ethics and philosophy in general.