Thomas More:

Utopia

Imagine the perfect society for a smallish island. What would it look like?

Background

Thomas More (1478 - 1535) was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He was Henry VIII’s Lord High Chancellor of England.

In 1516, he wrote a book called Utopia, which describes the political system of an imaginary island state.

Christopher Columbus had bumped into what is now known as ‘America’ only 24 years earlier. And Utopia is described as being somewhere in this ‘New World’.

The island is described by a voyager called Raphael, who is connected to Amerigo Vespucci's real life voyages of discovery. In the book, Raphael sets sail with Vespucci in 1507 and travels to Cabo Frio, in Brazil. According to the story, Raphael then continues his travels until he finds Utopia, where he spends five years observing the customs of the natives.

Thomas More served as Chancellor to Henry VIII, but fell out with the King over his desire to marry Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII was married to Catherine of Aragon and wanted his marriage annulled. The Pope refused the annulment and so Henry broke from the Catholic Church, making himself head of the Church of England. Thomas More refused to support him. He was put on trial and found guilty of treason and executed. He was made a Saint by the Catholic church.

According to More, the island of Utopia is...

…two hundred miles across in the middle part, where it is widest, and nowhere much narrower than this except towards the two ends, where it gradually tapers. These ends, curved round as if completing a circle five hundred miles in circumference, make the island crescent-shaped, like a new moon.

-Thomas More, Utopia

The Governance of the city

The governance of the city is arranged in a hierarchy:

Each city has 6000 households, consisting of between 10 to 16 adults.
Groups of 30 households elect a representative called a Syphograntus.
Groups of 10 Syphogranti elect a representative called a Traniborus.
The 200 Syphogranti of a city elect a Prince in a secret ballot. The Prince stays for life unless he is deposed or removed for suspicion of tyranny.

To keep the numbers even, people can be moved around the households and towns.

Private Property

There is no private property on Utopia. Stuff is stored in warehouses and people requesting what they need. There are also no locks on the doors of the houses. Houses are rotated between the citizens every ten years.

Education and Work

Everyone is taught agriculture and must live in the countryside, farming for two years at a time. Everyone must also learn one of the other essential trades: weaving, carpentry, metalsmithing and masonry.

Women and men do the same kind of work. Everyone wears the same types of simple clothes and there are no dressmakers making fine apparel.

All able-bodied citizens must work.

There is slavery on Utopia. Every household has two slaves, who are either from other countries or are the Utopian criminals. Slaves can be released for good behaviour.

Gold is used for the chains for the criminals and for the chamber pots (toilets). It’s of no value on the island, but is used for international trade. Jewels are only worn by children but they give them up when they grow up.

Meals are taken in community dining halls and the job of feeding the population is given to a different household in turn.

Social aspects of life on Utopia

Utopia has a welfare state with free hospitals.

Euthanasia and divorce is allowed, but premarital sex is punished by a lifetime of celibacy and adultery is punished by slavery.

Privacy is not regarded as freedom in Utopia.

The law is made deliberately simple so that there is no need for lawyers. It is believed that everyone should understand it and not leave people in any doubt of what is right and wrong.

There are several religions on the island but they are all tolerated. The toleration of all other religious ideas is enshrined in a universal prayer all the Utopians recite:

...but, if they are mistaken, and if there is either a better government, or a religion more acceptable to God, they implore His goodness to let them know it.

-Thomas More, Utopia

Tasks

Describe four ways in which you think Thomas More’s political vision was quite radical for the time.
What criticisms might people have of More's ideal state?
Evaluate More’s Utopia. Is it a Utopia?
Describe your own version of Utopia.

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