Utopian Society Essay

Thomas More’s imagined society of Utopia is a country filled with unique laws and customs that differ greatly from those of modern day nations. Even in More’s own time these ideas of how a country should be run were considered impossible to implement. One such feature of the Utopian Republic which may seem odd today, but was vital to the Utopians, is that the importance of the community be placed above the importance of the individual. Focusing too closely on one’s own wants and needs leads to a selfish negligence of the needs of others. In a society where one man’s work provided for the majority of the population, an attitude of selfishness was detrimental to community welfare. Along with community, the Utopians placed great value in

With such a high importance placed upon community and knowledge, it is not difficult to fathom that idleness was detested amongst Utopians and any unproductive behavior was wholly unacceptable. This concept provides each citizen a feeling of purpose and a sense of community involvement, which reverts to their first rule of community importance. The acceptance of these three rules: place the community first, think critically before speaking, and do not be idle, helped to ensure the health of the Utopian Society and the happiness of its citizens. It may be easily recognized that nearly everything which occurs in Utopia is done with community health in mind. Though individuals were important, it was with the society that Utopians were most concerned. This may be observed in the lack of individuality expressed by Utopian garments. In describing these garments Raphael states, “They have no tailors

Without the emphasis on the importance of community, as seen by the lack of individualism and private property, Utopians would have grown selfish and lost their sense of nationalism. In addition, the strong drive towards knowledge, which encourage citizens to think critically before sharing their opinions, was essential in ridding the nation of conflict in the government and in other matters such as religion. This want for knowledge was furthered by the encouragement of spending one’s hours acquiring useful information that would better the community, as opposed to spending leisure hours being unproductive. Without these three basic rules the Utopian society could not have