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Thomas More’s Utopia
Ideas thomas more wrote about in utopia
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Saint Thomas More was an English lawyer, philosopher, and a Renaissance humanist. He was also a councilor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England. To add to the many work trades he possessed, he was also a writer, and wrote a book called, “Utopia.” The book was written in humanist Latin, and it was based off of More’s concerns that he expressed about the manners and government, which were negatively viewed by him, along with Hythloday 's disapproval of existing practices in England. The meaning of the word Utopia is “Reformer of society.” Utopia was a fictional island society that he created, and in the island the towns were distributed according to convenience and logic. Utopians were a very interesting group of people that believed in social organizations, and the perfectibility of human society. Thomas More’s Utopia book was …show more content…
This can be viewed as civic humanism. Humanism itself is a difficult theory, with many different concepts of humanism within it. Their perspectives of civic humanism was also shown in this passage, “Out of the twenty-four equal hours into which they divide day and night they allow just six to work: three hours before noon when they go to lunch, after which they allow two hours of the afternoon to a siesta, then three further hours of work are concluded with supper.” Pg 64 passage 2, line 2 Some of the Utopian practices consisted of only working as few as six hours a day and using the remainder of the time to self-indulge, or pursue personal interest that did not pertain to their work. Moore wrote Utopia while England was experiencing turmoil because he wanted people to be able to envision an ideal society. Utopians were not Christians but they were still able to live close to perfection, so it was unacceptable that Christians should have much lower values than the paganistic
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...
The Humanist movement and the Scientific Revolution find their own haven in Utopia and New Atlantis. Written approximately one hundred years apart, these works clearly identify the attitudes of both the writers and of European society at that time. While Francis Bacon embodies the spirit of ingenuity and experimentation, Thomas More clearly illustrates the benefit of a communal society in the heart of a productive and virtue driven community. All the while, however, each author clearly shows the flaws of European society at that time. These aspects are what deliver the historical significance of the ideological movements of the 16th and 17th centuries, and will continue to do so for centuries to come.
The so-called Utopia – the quasi-perfect society – flourishes in Margaret Cavendish’s “The Description of a New World, Called a Blazing World” and Sir Thomas More’s Utopia. While the former is a dreamlike account of fantasy rule and the latter a pseudo-realistic travelogue, both works paint a picture of worlds that are not so perfect after all. These imperfections glitter like false gemstones in the paths of these Utopians’ religious beliefs, political systems, and philosophical viewpoints.
Before reading Utopia, it is essential that the reader understand that like Jonathan Swift’s, A Modest Proposal, Utopia is satirical. More creates a frame narrative in which Raphael Hythloday, the novel’s main character, recollects his observations of Utopia during his five-year stay. Hythloday spares no detail in his descriptions of Utopia, as he discusses everything from their military practices, foreign relations, religion, philosophy, and marriage customs. Interestingly enough, everything Hythloday discusses in Book II seems to be a direct response to of all of t...
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.
middle of paper ... ... Of course, as with a text like the Bible, not all things are meant to be taken literally. I do not concur with everything More wrote about in Utopia. However, I do believe that the overall “act with good intentions and good things will come to you” philosophy is a very important one for all humans to adhere to.
Utopia achieves great universality by evincing great understanding and sympathy with all men (Surtz, vii). It presents the hope for far better things, sustained by the view that man may shape and mold himself in any chosen form, (viii) thus creating the best earthly state possible. Redfield’s text focuses on nine insights to a spiritual transformation. When all nine insights are understood, an exciting new image of human life, and a positive vision of how we can save this planet, it’s creatures and it’s beauty will be attained (Redfield). According to Redfield, upon reaching the new millennium, human culture will shift as we move toward a completely spiritual culture on earth. In order to understand where we are today, we must take ourselves back to the year 1000 and move through the millennium as we lived through it. Imagine yourself being alive in the year 1000, the Middle Ages. The first thing you must understand is that the reality of this time is being defined by the powerful churchmen of the Christian church (22). Because of their position, these men hold great influence over t...
In Thomas More’s Utopia, an ideal society is presented, and several of this society’s different institutions are detailed. I will compare More’s version of an ideal society with Marx’s vision of what a conflict free communist society would be. I will examine the societal system as a whole focusing on the hierarchy of Utopia, the process of production, distribution of resources, and money.
Sir Thomas More composed the book Utopia in the year 1516. Utopia looks into many of the problems that faced England in the sixteenth-century and what a society would look like in order to relieve those complications. The Utopian society is brought about through conversations between the characters Thomas More, his friend Peter Giles, and the traveling philosopher Raphael Hythloday. Giles and More are quickly impressed by the level of travel that Hythloday had experienced; they want to know what he has seen and heard from other regions in regards to government and civilization. In More’s Utopia, we will uncover some of the problems that England was facing at the time and see where the Utopian commonwealth would do to alleviate said problems,
Utopia itself is divided into two different books, the first half of the book talks about ‘the obligations of a man of experience and integrity to play an active role in the service of a country and mankind,’ Moore puts himself into his narrative meeting a traveler called Raphael Hythloday. Hythloday is described as wise and well-travelled however, this fictional character has cruised with ‘the famed explored Amergio Vespucci.’ Vespucci was seen as a fraud to Moore and other philosophers, therefore its unclear whether Raphael Hythloday is truly reliable or not. The second half of the of the book goes into Hythloday’s tr...
Utopia is a reflection of More’s thoughts, feelings and opinions on politics and society at the time. While it may appear that Utopia is a representation of More’s ideal society and world, only some aspects are supported and agreed upon by More. He generally opposes and objects to certain trends of the Utopian society which he feels are ‘ridiculous.’ Despite this More still provides a comment on the social standards, ethics, operations and functions of the time. In doing this he presents his passion of ideas and art.
Thomas More’s Utopia and Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World , are novels about societies that differ from our own. Though the two authors have chosen different approaches to create an alternate society, both books have similarities which represent the visions of men who were moved to great indignation by the societies in which they lived. Both novels have transcended contemporary problems in society , they both have a structured, work based civilization and both have separated themselves from the ways of past society. It is important when reading these novels to focus on the differences as well as the similarities. The two novels differ in their views of love, religion, and the way to eliminate social classes. These differences seem to suggest that if we do not come closer to More’s goal in Utopia, we will end up in a society much like that of Huxley’s Brave New World.
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.
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.