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.
it should be learnt that the search for „utopia‟ is a contemplative one, and can never be
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.
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.
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 Jonathon Swift's Gulliver Travels and in John Milton's Paradise Lost, the reader is presented with two lands representing utopias. For Swift this land is an island inhabited by horse like creatures called Houyhnhnms who rule over man like beasts called Yahoos. For Milton, the Garden of Eden before the Fall of man represents Paradise. In it, Adam and Eve are pure and innocent, untested and faithful to God. The American Heritage Dictionary defines utopia as "an ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects." And while Houyhnhnm Land and the Garden of Eden may seem like ideally perfect places, they are not. Indeed, they contradict our ideas of utopia.
In 1516, Thomas More first coined the term “Utopia” with his novel by the same name. The word itself is derived from the Greek words ou, which means not, and topos, meaning place. Combining those two words, you create a new meaning of “no -place”. Utopia itself is a place that does not exist. Utopia is nowhere. Throughout the history of Utopian literature, Utopia’s are meant to symbolize an ideal place or society, one often very different than the author's own. Within Thomas More’s Utopia, we see characteristics that contrast greatly with 16th century Europe. However, the ideal society in More’s Utopia tends to mask the consequences of said society, and with further consideration, shares characteristics with a Dystopia.
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...
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
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 Utopia, “Among [the Utopians] virtue has its reward, yet everything is shared equally, and all men live in plenty” (More 1.38).By creating a place that has no money or private property More undermines the institutions of Tudor England by getting at the problem of social injustices having to do with private property (Brayton).Stevenson says, “With radical simplicity the Utopians avoid the ills of Europe: all private property is abolished. Pungent descriptions of crime, poverty, unemployment, ostentatious luxury, and idleness in Book I give way in Book II to Hythloday's eulogy of a country which is literally a ``commonwealth,'' where there are no beggars, no gentlemen, no money”(Stevenson). The main tension in the book Utopia is from the disagreement about everything having to do with private property (Phillips).
Though, as has been mentioned earlier, only certain accomplished people are allowed to give up manual labor for intellectual studies, every Utopian child receives a thorough education. The Utopians believe that it is through education that the values and dispositions of citizens are molded. The success of the Utopian educational system is evident in the fact that while most Utopians are engaged in manual labor as a career, in their free time Utopians choose to follow intellectual pursuits. Utopians conduct all of their studies in their native language.
Utopia, a term that appeared in the 16th century, was invented by Sir Thomas More in 1516. Many define utopia to be an idealistic and utterly perfect society. However, theoretically, utopia has nearly perfect qualities, not exactly perfect. In history, there has not been any specific record of a utopian society existing and there has been controversy on that it will never exist. However, a utopian society is possible because a utopia does not necessarily need to be absolutely perfect, society can come together and put aside its differences, and because the people learn how to improve situations that can happen or have happened.
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
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