This course proposes a journey through utopian, anti-utopian and dystopian thought in Western literature from its origins until the present day. By reading, analysing and debating over some of the main works of literature of these subgenres in the English language, a reflection will be made about the utopian undertones of political action. Likewise, the parameters of the search for a better social design will be studied as a basis of the theories of the Modern state, and later on the welfare state; we will focus on the anticipatory character of the utopian and dystopian texts in their prophecy about the metamorphosis of the dream of happiness into a totalitarian nightmare and of idealism into rationalism through satire. The exploration of the answers of utopian/dystopian literature to the economic, moral and political crises of the different periods will conclude with an analysis of several utopias, as well as the reception of the post-contemporary re-writing of the apocalypse in narratives about terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, preventive/preemptive wars and the nanorobotics revolution.