Utopia

A utopia refers to the result or aim of any effort to make the world or humankind perfect. It derives from the book Utopia by Sir Thomas More (1516), about a perfect society where everybody is happy and has everything they need, although the concept is much older, particularly in religious writing.[1] In the original version of More's book there was an addendum by More which in part said "Wherfore not Utopie, but rather rightely my name is Eutopie, a place of felicitie".[2] "Eutopia" in Greek means "Good Place" while the near homophone Outopia means "No Place"

Thinking hardly
or hardly thinking?
Philosophy
Major trains of thought
The good, the bad
and the brain fart
Come to think of it
v - t - e

The word "utopian" can be used as a snarl word in many cases. Marxists were accustomed to contrast their "scientific socialism" with the pre-Marxist "utopian" socialist philosophies. It can also be applied, with an equal amount of irony, by conservatives to liberal or leftist reformers.

One drawback a utopian "planner" must deal with is that one person's utopia is often another person's Hell; another is that there are few utopian ideas that are not by now completely worn out.

Examples
  • The City of God (426 CE) by Augustine of Hippo, which sets out a contented, spiritual city in opposition to an evil earthly city of the flesh.[3]
  • Utopia (1516) by Thomas More
  • Robert Owen (1771-1858) was a British textile manufacturer who tried to construct model communities for his workers, such as New Lanark in central Scotland, where workers' children were educated and workers could buy things at fair prices rather than be forced to shop at rip-off company stores.[4]
  • Charles Fourier (1772-1837) was an early utopian socialist and feminist thinker whose writings described a society where everybody would co-operate and live in harmony.[5]
  • Étienne Cabet (1788-1856) was a utopian socialist who described his ideal society in Voyage to Icaria (1840)[6]
  • Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward: 2000–1887 (1888) set out a vision of a socialist society based on nationalization (which he confusingly called nationalism), and was a massive bestseller in the USA.[7]
  • A Modern Utopia (1905) by H. G. Wells described an ideal future society, from a writer better known for nightmarish visions of the future. It proposed a society where energy was the currency, where mechanisation meant most people didn't need to work, and men and women were equal, with marriages lasting a few years unless children were produced. However it was also based on an asceticism derived from Wells's idea of the samurai, including a ban on alcohol and drugs.[8]
gollark: Just in time compilation.
gollark: Depends who(m) you ask.
gollark: There is.
gollark: <@319753218592866315> 13GB in total.
gollark: There are SIXTEEN of them, <@319753218592866315>.

See also

References
  1. The history of utopian thought, Joyce Oramel Hertzler, Cooper Square Publishers, New York, 1965
  2. A Short Meter Utopia Written by Amemolius, Poet Laurete and Nephew to Hythloday by his Sister.
  3. See the Wikipedia article on The City of God.
  4. Robert Owen, socialist and visionary, BBC Wales blogs
  5. Charles Fourier Archive, marxists.org
  6. See the Wikipedia article on Étienne Cabet.
  7. See the Wikipedia article on Looking Backward.
  8. See the Wikipedia article on A Modern Utopia.
This article is issued from Rationalwiki. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.