The book "Utopia", was written by Thomas More in 1516. The book provided many details of how society was wrong, according to Thomas More. In the first part he describes the problems with the 16th century's society. The following sections are More's ideas of a perfect society in an island. The ideas are common welfare vs. private interest, uniformity and dissent, civic virtue and the moral education of citizens, and exploration through philosophy and travel. Thomas More's book, Utopia, is from the mind of Thomas More that tells his view on a perfect world and how it would fit in with 16th century society.
In the first section of the book tells of the problems that keep the 16th century from being a “Utopia,” according to Thomas More. Because
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of his Humanist studies of classical philosophy, he believed that individuals are good by nature and can solve all problems through reason. More had an ideal vision of morality that contrasted with the realities of his world, and one of the major goals of the Humanist movement was to integrate those ideals into real life. However, More knew that principles alone don’t get anyone very far in politics. More’s father was a notable judge and raised him amid politics and politicians, so he had seen how corrupt political life could be. This was his main argument against the 16th century government and society. More’s views on common welfare vs.
private interest was one of his main topics in Utopia. He talks about how The abolition of private property was one of More's chief criticisms on the Utopian state. On this point, the More’s main character (More) to disagree with Utopian policy and with Raphael Hythloday's (another fictional character) interpretation of English society. Hythloday defends communism as practiced by the Utopians, noting that a similar sort of shared life was lived by the early Church and is still lived by the holiest religious orders. The Utopian argument is that pride and dignity are a main cause of crimes. More’s idea to get rid of private properties, wealth, and class based society, was to remove the pride that causes the harm. The Utopian position is founded on a distrust of mankind. At one point, we find out about the Utopians' thought that the afterlife of is the one thing that inspires man to obey law and respect others. This position is shown in the Utopian fear that private property will make more harm than good and will cause the community to stop working. The Utopians are not against to the rational and intelligent improvement of one's interests. Instead, the Utopians look for the importance of the common welfare and the fulfillment of purchases through the common welfare whenever possible. In Utopia there is no everyone has a job to do, which prevents poverty among the
people. More’s second idea’s were for uniformity and dissent. Raphael Hythloday Describes Utopia as a perfect society, but it is not a naturally occurring one. It is not a natural paradise, but instead it was carefully planned out. In Utopia, More’s idea of perfect if found in uniformity. It is agricultural, and surrounded by a system of cities. The cities are planned exactly the same way, just as the houses are built the same. Bland practical clothing is distinguished only by the intended wearer's gender, all citizens work the same number of hours daily, each city relies upon the same legal and political practices, and all people worship according to the same common prayers despite their various religions.
Utopia is a term invented by Sir Thomas More in 1515. However, he traces the root two Greek words outopia and eutopia which means a place does not exist and a fantasy, invention. It is widely accepted that Plato was to first to picture a utopian order. In his masterpiece, “Republic”, he formed the principles of ideal commonsense and his utopia (Hertzler, 1922:7). After the classical age, Sir Thomas More assumed to be the first of the utopian writers in early modern period. As a humanist, he gave the world in his “Utopia” a vision of a perfect communistic commonwealth (the history of utopian thought). Utopia’s influence on contemporary and rival scholars is so deep that it has given its name to whole class of literature. Following the appearance of More’s Utopia, there was a lack of Utopian literature for nearly a century (Hertzler, 1922:7). This period ended with the works of Francis Bacon, Campanelle and Harrington. These early modern utopians, being the children of Renaissance, filled with a love of knowledge and high respect for the newly truths of science. Thus, they believed that the common attainment of knowledge means the largest participation of all members of society in its joys and benefits. After the period of early Utopians, continuation of a sprit of French Revolution and initial signs of industrial revolution resulted in the emergence of a new group of Utopians called Socialist Utopians (Hertzler, 1922: 181). The word “Socialism” seems to have been first used by one of the leading Utopian Socialists, St Simon. In politics utopia is a desire that never come true neither now nor afterwards, a wish that is not based on social forces (material conditions and production) and is not supported by the growth and development of political, class forces. This paper discusses the validity of this claim, tries to present and evaluate the political reforms, if any, offered by Socialist Utopians.
Thomas More sees physical labor as very important. Not only to survive, but so that everyone contributes to society. Idleness can be a disease. There must be a balance to work. Everybody in Utopia does some farming. Farming was considered a ver...
While ideally seeming like a positive and working society, Utopia has its flaws. In particular, Utopia struggles with the concepts of freedom, greed, and depravity. These issues are subsets of human nature and humanism. Throughout Utopia, More touches on humanism by providing examples of thievery and greed. Acting as himself in order to communicate the ideas of Utopia, More talks about a chain reaction linking soldiers to thievery, claiming they are not responsible, due to not knowing how to associate back into society. More also discusses the initial good in individuals, providing proof that More supports the concept of ultimately “good” human beings. An example of this opinion is found in Book 2, when stated “No living creature is naturally greedy, except from fear of want – or in the case of human beings, form vanity, the
More, Sir Thomas. Utopia. 1516. . Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. 2 vols. New York: Norton, 2000, 1: 1765-1771.
Between the 1820’s and 1860’s, Americans were trying new things and promoting different ideas and ways of thinking. Once such idea is that of a utopian society. A utopian society, simple put, means a perfect society. There are many examples of experiments at utopian society in the 1800’s.
In order to create structure in a society, one must ensure the care of its people. In the imaginary civilization of Utopia, the main strategy is to "get through life as comfortably and cheerfully as we can, and help other members of our species to do so too" (More 92). More focuses on the well being of its citizens to create happiness and order within the society. He does this by initiating the idea of human rights and equality. With the sense of equality in society people can help each other to live blissfully, and stop trying to become better than their neighbors.
First, the people of More's Utopia have a complex communism compared to our modern neo-fascist culture. In Utopia, the government owns the business world. The government forces men to work the land in two-year stints. In modern society, the government does not own the economy but it does control the economy. The government does not make men be farmers but it does tell farmers how much to grow. Furthermore, it penalizes those who disobey its command.
Whether the Utopians are being examined for their value of precious metals, the treatment of women, or how they worship, it is evident that there are some major inequalities within their society. However, any reader of More’s Utopia must have the ability to look past the tensions that are present, and read the work as More intended it to be read—satirically.
To begin, an overview of utopian history is needed. The utopian lineage is as old as the Earth itself. Specifically, it started in the Garden of Eden, which is considered the ultimate utopia. After that, the next major utopia is described in Plato’s The Republic. According to Plato, as along as the major people classes live justly with one another, the overall society will be in harmony. Next published was Thomas More’s Utopia.
In order to maintain a society free of social inequality both authors set up a civilization based on strict societal structure. In More’s Utopia, a system was set up so that all work was completed.
More, Sir Thomas. Utopia: A New Translation, Backgrounds, Criticism. Ed. and trans. Robert M. Adams. Toronto: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1988.
Moore, Thomas. "Utopia Book 2." Utopia by Thomas More. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
The trite cliche that no man is an island applies equally well to political philosophies. Thomas More's Utopia was written both as a product of his time, and also as a product of a previous time--that of Greek civilization, especially around 380BC, when Plato's Republic was written. The similarities between the two books are not limited to them both being a dialogue. Both contain a description of the perfect state, although they do this for different reasons and they arrive at different types of perfection.
The most key and predominant aspect of More’s Utopian society is the abolishment of private property. This then leads to a battle and debate over the common welfare of the people against their private interests. Raphael and by extension More, feels that society and people in general greatly benefit from the loss of private interests. The general loss of privacy in Utopia leads to a situation in which ‘everyone has an eye on you’ so that the people of Utopia are ‘practically forced to get on’ with their jobs and ‘make some proper use’ of their spare time. This system creates a city in which every single member works and contributes to society in a positive way. Under this arrangement each member is considered equal in that no one man owns greater possessions or property than another.
Because they are described in a detailed manner, the Utopia book itself seems to be enough to be a blueprint for the future. However, Thomas More clearly stated that he just wishes Europeans to follow some good qualities of the Utopian society—“there are many things in the Utopian commonwealth that in our own societies I would wish rather than expect to see” (97)—because he himself knows that it is impossible for any country to be like Utopia. This is apparent, because Utopia is possible on the premise that every factor comes together to create this ideal society. Even the geography has to contribute to this premise, as Hythloday explains the geography of Utopia as the place where strangers cannot enter without one of them (39). Moreover, from diligent and compassionate Utopians’ characteristics and their ways of life, they seem to be successful in reaching the fullest of every aspect of their life including physical, intellectual, social, spiritual, and emotional, when it is hardly possible to even have one person like that in real life.