Utopia By Thomas More 14781535 Essay Research

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Paper The term “Utopia” has come to mean an idyllic, visionary Shang-ri-la type of community. However, when More derived the term from the Greek, it literally meant “nowhere.” In essence, both are correct: Utopia can represent both a mythical, impossible retreat and a great guiding social ideal. Much of More’s book was extracted from and influenced by the Bible, especially from the “Christian Humanists” biblical interpretations that formed a vanguard of social criticism in his time. Along with Erasmus, another humanist philosopher, More yearned to change his world for the better. He saw that wanton greed and terrible poverty were often irrevocably bound to one another, and he argued vehemently for the closing of the separation between classes. More’s Utopia, of course, has never been achieved; perhaps it never will be achieved – nor should ever be sought. But this comment on European society, in his time, reflects the great challenges that have faced societies throughout history. Tensions born of moral struggles – between power and equality; between work for survival and work to acquire luxury; between creative, joyful leisure and laziness; between the actual and the ideal – these are basic issues for our time and for all times. And More’s Utopia embraces and attempts to clarify them all.

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