What is “perfect” society? My own view of a perfect society is when people are sharing and loving each other, laughing, living happily, working together, with everyone’s best interest equivalent to each person’s best interest. There will be no pain, no crime, no corruption and no anger. In my perfect society, people will be raised in caring and loving community, with higher education to help them encourage freethinking. There will be no disclosure to greedy or decadent cultures. Instead of it, people will be surrounded by happiness and joy.
However, the perfect society represented in Thomas More's Utopia uses reason alone in political, religious practices, and in society. While I was reading Thomas More’s book, the Utopian society had some aspects of my “perfect” society and it has some things that are similar to the world that we live in now.
Firstly, Utopian people do not absolve wars, disturbance or assault. They try to avoid it as much as possible. They believe that there is no point in killing people, unless it is to save their own men. Utopians are the people that believe in the power of intelligence of humans. With a logical thought and admired intelligence like the Utopians, the people today may not even have to resort to wars to achieve intensity or to prove their power and strength.
Second is the value they hold for life. They think that the soul is immortal and that there is an existence of an afterlife. Also, in Utopia people never buy slaves. Utopian
slaves are either people captured by the Utopians in battle, or foreigners who have committed crimes, and saved from their fates by the Utopians. When people are ill, they are looked after and given everything, such as special foods, medicines to help them recover.
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...e thing every single day, live in same houses and dress alike. Living in such community would seem boring and repetitive. I believe that a place like Utopia could not possibly exist, and people would not be able to live a life where nothing is ever different. I believe that Utopia is the greatest social order in the world. "Everywhere else people talk about the public good but pay attention to their own private interests. In Utopia, where there is no private property, everyone is seriously concerned with pursuing the public welfare." (Hythloday) In Utopia, no one worries about food, property for themselves or next generation. Unlike the rest of the world, where men who do nothing productive live in luxury, in Utopia, all people work and all live well. To my mind, it's not only the best country in the world, but the only one that has right to call itself a republic.
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.
Imagine a place where everything is perfect. There is a place where there is no warfare, where all. All politics, laws, customs, and traditions are respected. A place where there is sameness among all the citizens and everyone is content and happy. This place would be considered a utopia.
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
This serene society greatly contradicts the one we live in. Our society is furnished with hatred and warfare, yet in return, we are given freedom and the privilege of having distinctive characters. Given the nature of human beings, our society is more idealistic to live in. Utopia is an imaginary state, which consists of people who believe they are more capable of living in a group than alone. In such a community, the welfare of the group is the primary interest compared to the comfort of individuals.
A perfect society has always been the goal for many; unfortunately it has only existed in books. The Prince by Niccoló Machiavelli, written in 1513, provides necessary information to become a Prince who will obtain, keep, and please his empire. Thomas More's Utopia, written in 1516, creates an ideal civilization that will live happily, comfortably, and without any problems. Both books attempted to solve problems within a society by critiquing other institutions and creating their own solutions. With the rise in cities, trade, and the economy in the 15th century, people began to realize order and structure in a society is necessary to flourish. Machiavelli and More left a modern legacy by striving for a better well being in societies and creating an ideal civilization that would prosper even in times of social, economic, and political difficulty.
Fourth, the religion of the Utopians is much like modern religion with one major exception. The religious beliefs of both societies are pluralistic. Utopia allows all religion except our most dominant religion: secular humanism (i.e. "atheism"). A man, who believes blind chance not divine providence, determines actions, is less than a man. In our culture of neo-Darwinism and "man is pure matter," everything is by chance.
The Utopia Reader defines the word utopia as “a nonexistent society described in detail and normally located in time and space.” (p.1) I would best define utopia as a fictional dream- paradise land where everything is peaceful, perfect and all runs smoothly. There is no crime disease, or pain. People are happy, kind and fair and have each other’s best
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.
One of the major ideas about the future of humans has been the utopian society, or simply utopia, which is an ideally perfect world where everyone can live harmoniously together despite different backgrounds, ethnicity, religions, beliefs, and so on. However, the idea of such a society is bombarded with many arguments, most of which point out to that, considering the current and harsh conditions that the world is facing, the perfect and dreamed world cannot exist or be realized. To elaborate the utopian society topic, this essay will explore the progress of study of a utopian society, the important characteristic of a utopian world, and investigate the probability of a reality where such a world may exist in mankind’s
A utopia does not necessarily need to be absolutely perfect to be accepted by all the people. For example, in Brave New World, John says, “But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want
The last important item when it comes to the Utopian system is money. There is no money in Utopia just as communism is a moneyless society. The Utopians also do not fetishize precious metals like gold and silver. In the current technological state, gold presents very little utility, and they treat it as such. What the Utopians exactly say is “But Nature granted to gold and silver no function with which we cannot easily dispense. Human folly has made them precious because they are rare.” Marx was critical of the fetishizing of metal monies and the role they overtake in the social relations of people.
Utopias tend to be organized around a universal ideal; an ideal which all members of the community accept, agree with, and are motivated to strive for. In many cases, a set structure of living is implemented so that the members of the community can work together for the benefit of all. In the following essay, I plan to explain the utopian society currently in practice in modern day India. I will discuss the basics of the Hindu Caste system and demonstrate how nicely it fits into the definition of a utopia. In addition, I also plan to explore the parallels between the current caste system in India, and the social and structural ideas proposed by Sir Thomas More in his classic book Utopia.
Just because everything is pre-planned, life in Utopia is so very monotonous that people had to adopt a pleasure-based approach about life, based on happiness and happiness alone: “In fact, they do everything they can to make people enjoy themselves.”²⁹, “Here they seem rather too much inclined to take a hedonistic view, for according to them human happiness consists largely or wholly in pleasure.”³⁰
Each person has their own vision of utopia. Utopia means an ideal state, a paradise, a land of enchantment. It has been a central part of the history of ideas in Western Civilization. Philosophers and writers continue to imagine and conceive plans for an ideal state even today. They use models of ideal government to express their ideas on contemporary issues and political conditions. Man has never of comparing the real and ideal, actuality and dream, and the stark facts of human condition and hypothetical versions of optimum life and government.
The Utopians live a very simple lifestyle. They work, and in their spare time play games, read, and socialize. Other forms of entertainment, such as gambling and hunting are looked down upon. They only eat what is necessary, and their houses are built simply and furnished only with what is necessary. Thus, their consumption is very low. Utopians do not need material possessions for happiness. Happiness for them comes out of living an honest life and working hard to produce for themselves and for the entire nation.