Utopias often describe the ideal society as a perfect harmony between male and female, black and white, rich and poor.
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.
“Possibly the quintessential utopia, Utopia (the full Latin title is De Optimo Republicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia) was written during that great flowering of European culture which was the Renaissance: the Americas were recently ‘discovered’, humanist scholars flourished, the Protestant Reformation was in the air and all things seemed possible” (Mastin).
Interestingly enough, there are significant differences between Utopia and The Republic. According to More, key components of a perfect society consists of a minimal governmental control, a strong family unit, no private property or currency, and a six-hour work day. But Plato’s ideal republic materializes very differently.
In regards to religion, utopias are somewhat ambiguous. In general, either exclusive or inclusive religious communities were created. The Puritans were exclusive.
“Religious exclusiveness was the foremost principle of their society. The spiritual beliefs that they held were strong. This strength held over to include community laws and customs. Since God was at the forefront of their minds, He was to motivate all of their actions. This premise worked both for them and against them” (Kizer).
There were multiple be...
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...reedom. But instead, they created religious tyranny. By searching for that which is unattainable, they formed only despair and hardships for others, intentionally or not.
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Kizer, Kay. n.d. 8 December 2013. .
Mastin, Luke. B.C. to 16th Century. 2008. 9 December 2013. .
Sargisson, Lucy. Contemporary Feminist Utopianism. Psycology Press, 1996.
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.
What would happen if an utopia wasn’t all that perfect on the inside? Judging by just the appearance of something may lead to a situation of regret and confusion.” The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson address the theme of religious and traditional symbolism.” The Lottery” demonstrates how something that seems so perfect on the outside isn’t all that great on the inside.
What is a utopia? Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary defines _utopia_ as "an imaginary and indefinitely remote place; a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, gov-ernment, and social conditions; *an impractical scheme for social improvement."* In _Brave New World_ Aldous Huxley creates a _dystopia_ (which Webster defines as "an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives") by predicting a pos-sible _utopia_ after many generations. Aldous Huxley analyzes how the utopia degenerated from its original intent into a terrible dystopia. In this essay I will discuss some aspects of this dystopia and relate to Aldous Huxley's dystopian vision.
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
More, Sir Thomas. Utopia: A New Translation, Backgrounds, Criticism. Ed. and trans. Robert M. Adams. Toronto: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1988.
In Sir Thomas More 's Utopia, he creates broad distinctions between the way that things were done in his homeland, and they way that they are done in his fictitious country of the same name. In his writing, he describes many aspects of Utopian life, from geography to clothing, all in his attempt to create the perfect society, one that does not, and could not, exist. More specifically, he attempts to eliminate the follies of European society in his descriptions of the Utopians, referencing their societal pillars of utility, uniformity, and humility. He describes their government, clothing, opinions on precious metals, and euthanasia practices, all in an effort to display Utopia as a country of logic, built to hinder and prevent the possibility of human failings.
In the novel “Lord of the Flies”, one can get an understanding of just how difficult it is for the foundation of a utopia. Ralph was the leader of his utopia in which the system of ruling was considered to be very democratic. Ralph had been voted in by the majority of the group which gave society a voice. The idea of democracy was farther demonstrated through the representation of the conch which said that whoever had it was to be the one speaking. Ralph had declared this when he said “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking (Golding.31).” The utopia of Ralph had some positive essentials of a perfect world, such as it was peaceful; there was freedom, equality and the thought of morality. *INCLUDE EXAMPLES* But even with those key elements it was too intricate to sustain, which led...
While the idea of the word utopia is universal, the actual stories that derive from that idea can be very different in nature. The outcome, or even the basis of the story, relies completely upon the authors, or readers view of a prefect society. This is how progress is made, through ideas and thoughts of revolutionary writers in stories we have come to call "utopian."
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.
In philosophy, the Utopians are uninterested in the abstract suppositions that are the rage in Europe and which Hythloday finds empty. The foremost topic of Utopian philosophy is the nature of happiness, and the relation of happiness to pleasure. In such matters they ground their reason in religion, believing reason alone is ill equipped to handle such an investigation.
...d not an actual social state. Utopias are disturbing because they represent life lived systematically—except this really isn’t living at all. The Yahoos could not have thought they lived in perfection because the horses sought to eliminate their species. Though it is never mentioned whether or not the Yahoos knew of their fate, the horses regarded them as a burden. Just as the Yahoos were treated as inferior to the Houyhnhnms, utopias dehumanize their inhabitants as they rob their people’s right to live with dignity and feeling.
Even Shakespeare speaks of a utopian society in The Tempest, when Gonzalo says, “Would I admit; no name of magistrate; letter should not be known; riches, poverty, and use of service; none; contract; succession; bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none… no occupation; all men idle, all, and woman too, but innocent and pure; no sovereignty.” (The Tempest, pg. 24, lines 14-21) To Gonzalo, a utopian society has the absence of status, property, and profession which assumes unity and uniformity of humans. Although it seems perfect, it is impossible to get people to follow along. Many utopian experiments start off with enthusiasm, but end up with little followers. An example of this would be the Fruitland. It is where Louis May Alcott wrote her short story, “Transcendental Oats”, it depicted an image of how they lived there and how the experiment failed. Her father, Brandon Alcott and another man were the ones who started the experiment. However, they kept adding rules once people joined the community, thus caused many people to leave. Later on, due to crop failure and internal disorder, the community dissolved. People who joined the community were disillusioned by how different they thought the community would be. This often happened with many utopian
Because they are described in a detailed manner, 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 if every factors comes perfectly 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 stranger 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 aspects of their life including physical, intellectual, social, spiritual, and emotional, when it is hardly possible to even have one person like that in real
Utopia is possible although there is no way to make just one because everyone has different views and different ideas of what their perfect society should be. I think that by using sort of the same concepts from Divergent, we could potentially get a society that is at the very least, close to utopia. Utopia is hard to achieve for many reasons but the main reason is that humans are not perfect creatures, Human error is bound to get in the way of this perfect society. But by making several smaller societies with their own values and priorities and letting the people choose where they want to live, I think we could definitely be on the right track. You would be living amongst people with the same values as yourself and they also wanted to be
Peoples’ views of what the perfect society would look like have changed because of a few cultures in history. This “perfect society”, also called a utopia, can be found within many different religions, mythologies, cultures, and more. These change us to think differently about what we would call perfect. For example, everyone works together, everyone for themselves, isolation from the rest of the world, and so on. A few generalizations have been made about utopias. “Man strives to create his own personal and societal utopia.” “Man has been searching for or trying to create a utopian society since time began.” “Man corrupts his utopia after finding it or creating it.” “Dreams, memories, nature, emotions, and time help shape man’s ideas regarding utopia.” “Individuality may be lost I man’s quest for utopia.” These apply to most, if not all utopian situations throughout fictional societies and history.