The idea of universal education plays into Cabet’s obsession with the perfectibility of man. The idea that man can be made perfect is Cabet’s obsession; he claims that perfectibility is necessary in creating a perfect world as perfection can only be achieved when man is able to recognize his own vices.[1] Cabet believed that “the human race…has been generally…perfecting itself”[2] but achieving absolute perfection had been previously impossible because the vices of man, such as selfishness or greed, held society back.[3] Cabet argues that potential exists because man is “distinguished from all other animate beings by his reason.”[4] In order to achieve equality, mankind must abandon these vices reasonably through equality and education. Cabet believed that education made societal vices apparent and that equality provided enough incentives to overcome any hesitations in abandoning societal norms.
[1] Cabet, “Communist Creed (1841),” 147
[2] Cabet, “Communist Creed (1841),”148
[3] Cabet, “Communist Creed (1841),” 149
[4] Cabet, “Voyage en Icarie,” 146