Thomas More Utopian Society

In the current world we live in, we, as a society never stop improving; we are always trying harder and harder to fix the problems of the world as we work further and further towards a goal almost near perfection. However, is perfection attainable? And what would society look like in a perfect society, a utopia? 16th century philosopher Thomas More paints a vivid outlook on what a perfect society might be like in his book, Utopia. In Utopia, More introduces several reasons of the benefit of a Utopian communal society and also states how it is an improvement from England’s focus on private property. The book is told from a dialogue between two fictionalized characters: Raphael Hythloday, the expert in Utopian culture and a fictionalized Thomas

Hythloday states that many men have resorted to stealing in order to survive (More 16). The reason why Englishmen are forced to steal is because private property creates impoverished individuals who are in need because the practice of private property does not distribute resources on a level which is sufficient for some. The English’ practice of private property is fostering individuals to engage in felonies for a necessity as simple as a meal. Additionally, there are veterans whom are not able to return to their old work or learn how to do new work and are forced to steal to survive (More 17). Because of the shortage of labor caused by private property, there is rising crime among veterans, adding to the turmoil in society. Although, More does not argue that private property is the direct cause of unemployment among soldiers, he does present an alternative city in which their communal life style prevents the problems Englishmen are facing and the motive for corruption. In Utopia, the communal lifestyle incorporates stable trades, as labor is mostly the simplest forms of work that are of necessity “such as wool-working, linen-making, masonry, metal-work or carpentry” and “each person is taught a particular trade of his own”

Although Hythloday’s scenario is hypothetical, it is still a valid representation of how private property is corrupting to an individual such as a King who puts himself above his subjects because he simply can because of his right to own private property such as a kingdom with a treasury. More continues on to state that in a kingdom where private property, the King, if he so desired, is able to take away all the property that lies under his kingdoms from his subjects (More 32). Although, there is private property primarily that belongs under subjects of kingdom, Hythloday points out that there is no private property at all unless you are a King. His point illustrates how King’s sovereignty of private property enables him to do as he pleases without having to worry about constraints and possible consequences thus illustrating that the realm of the propertied is not beneficial to one’s moral character. The leaders of Uptopia, the “tranibors”, have an open rule for making laws, and any private legislation is condemned (More 54). In Utopia the rule for open legislation allows for no government official to be corrupt in their societies because their communal government allows for a more just governing system where everything is out in the open, and heavily contrasts with England’s scheming,