Utopia (, "A truly golden little book, not less beneficial than enjoyable, about how things should be in a state and about the new island Utopia") is a work of fiction and socio-political satire by Thomas More (1478–1535), written in Latin and published in 1516 and revised in 1518. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. Many aspects of More's description of Utopia are reminiscent of life in monasteries.
Title The title De optimo rei publicae statu deque nova insula Utopia literally translates to "Of a republic's best state and of the new island Utopia."
It is variously rendered as any of the following:
On the Best State of a Republic and on the New Island of Utopia Concerning the Highest State of the Republic and the New Island Utopia On the Best State of a Commonwealth and on the New Island of Utopia Concerning the Best Condition of the Commonwealth and the New Island of Utopia On the Best Kind of a Republic and About the New Island of Utopia About the Best State of a Commonwealth and the New Island of Utopia
The first created original name was even longer: Libellus vere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festivus, de optimo rei publicae statu deque nova insula Utopia. This translates to, "A truly golden little book, no less beneficial than entertaining, of a republic's best state and of the new island Utopia."
Utopia is derived from the Greek prefix "ou-" (), meaning "not", and topos (), "place," with the suffix -iā () that is typical of toponyms; the name literally means "nowhere", emphasizing its fictionality. In early modern English, Utopia was spelled "Utopie", which is today rendered Utopy in some editions.
In fact, More's very first name for the island was Nusquama, the Latin equivalent of "no-place", but he eventually opted for the Greek-influenced name.From Dreamland 'Humanism' to Christian Political Reality or From 'Nusquama' to 'Utopia'.
In English, Utopia is pronounced the same as Eutopia (the latter word, in Greek [Eutopiā], meaning "good place," contains the prefix [eu-], "good", with which the of Utopia has come to be confused in the English pronunciation). That is something that More himself addresses in an addendum to his book: Wherfore not Utopie, but rather rightely my name is Eutopie, a place of felicitie.More's Utopia: The English Translation thereof by Raphe Robynson. 2nd ed., 1556, "Eutopism" .
Contents Preliminary matter The first edition contained a woodcut map of the island of Utopia, the Utopian alphabet, verses by Pieter Gillis, Gerard Geldenhouwer, and Cornelius Grapheus, and Thomas More's epistle dedicating the work to Gillis.
Book 1: Dialogue of Counsel
The work begins with written correspondence between Thomas More and several people he had met in Europe: Peter Gilles, town clerk of Antwerp, and Hieronymus van Busleyden, counselor to Charles V. More chose those letters, which are communications between actual people, to further the plausibility of his fictional land. In the same spirit, the letters also include a specimen of the Utopian alphabet and its poetry. The letters explain the lack of widespread travel to Utopia; someone had coughed during the announcement of its exact longitude and latitude. The first book tells of the traveller Raphael Hythlodaeus, to whom More is introduced in Antwerp, and it also explores the subject of how best to counsel a prince, a popular topic at the time.
The first discussions with Raphael allow him to discuss some of the modern ills affecting Europe such as the tendency of kings to start wars and the subsequent loss of money on fruitless endeavours. He also criticises the use of execution to punish theft by saying that thieves might as well murder whom they rob, to remove witnesses, if the punishment is going to be the same, the abstract principle being "never to make it safer to follow out an evil plan than to repent of it." He lays most of the problems of theft on the practice of enclosure, the enclosing of common land, and the subsequent poverty and starvation of people who are denied access to land because of sheep farming.
More tries to convince Raphael that he could find a good job as a royal advisor, but Raphael says that his views are too radical and would not be listened to. Raphael sees himself in the tradition of Plato: he knows that for good governance, kings must act philosophically. He, however, points out:
More seems to contemplate the duty of philosophers to work around and in real situations and, for the sake of political expediency, work within flawed systems to make them better, rather than hoping to start again from first principles.
Book 2: Discourse on Utopia
Utopia is placed in the New World and More links Raphael's travels with Amerigo Vespucci's real life voyages of discovery. He suggests that Raphael is one of the 24 men that Vespucci says he left for six months at Cabo Frio, Brazil in his Four Voyages of 1507. Raphael then travels further and finds the island of Utopia, where he spends five years observing the customs of the natives.
According to More, the island of Utopia is The island was originally a peninsula but a 15-mile wide channel was dug by the community's founder King Utopos to separate it from the mainland. The island contains 54 cities. Each city is divided into four equal parts. The capital city, Amaurot, is located directly in the middle of the crescent island.
Each city has not more than 6000 households, each family consisting of between 10 and 16 adults. Thirty households are grouped together and elect a Syphograntus (whom More says is now called a phylarchus). Every ten Syphogranti have an elected Traniborus (more recently called a protophylarchus) ruling over them. 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.
People are redistributed around the households and towns to keep numbers even. If the island suffers from overpopulation, colonies are set up on the mainland. Alternatively, the natives of the mainland are invited to be part of the Utopian colonies, but if they dislike them and no longer wish to stay, they may return. In the case of underpopulation, the colonists are recalled.
There is no private property on Utopia, with goods being stored in warehouses and people requesting what they need. There are also no locks on the doors of the houses, and the houses are rotated between the citizens every ten years. Agriculture provides the most important occupation on the island. Every person is taught it and must live in the countryside, farming for two years at a time, with women doing the same work as men. Similarly, every citizen must learn at least one of the other essential trades: weaving (mainly done by the women), carpentry, metalsmithing and masonry. There is deliberate simplicity about the trades; for instance, all people wear the same types of simple clothes, and there are no dressmakers making fine apparel. All able-bodied citizens must work; thus, unemployment is eradicated, and the length of the working day can be minimized. The people have to work only six hours a day although many willingly work for longer. More does allow scholars in his society to become the ruling officials or priests, people picked during their primary education for their ability to learn. All other citizens, however, are encouraged to apply themselves to learning in their leisure time.
Although the Utopians view labor as dignified and mutually beneficial, labor is not ideologically attached to a citizen's happiness, status, or worth. The pursuit of happiness, which the Utopians think is the ultimate purpose of life, is accomplished during leisure time. The purpose of leisure time is to experience "true and natural pleasure," which is felt through pleasures of the mind and pleasures of the body. Pleasures of the mind include attending lectures, pursuing intellectual studies, and practicing spiritual virtues. Utopians define practicing spiritual virtues as “living according to nature,” which is viewed as one of the greatest pleasures, as they believe God created them for this purpose. Pleasures of the body are then divided into two categories. The first is the resolve of the body's physical needs; for example, eating when hungry, drinking when thirsty, scratching an itch, having children, and “something that excites our senses with a hidden but unmistakable force,” like music. This is seen as true and natural pleasure as long as there is not an overindulgence in their actions. The second type of pleasure is inherent in good health.
The Utopian philosophy of leisure and pleasure is closely tied to their ideas about religion. These ideas are united by reason, since the Utopians use reason to justify all of their societal practices. There are several religions on the island: moon-worshippers, sun-worshippers, planet-worshippers, ancestor-worshippers and monotheists, but each is tolerant of the others. Only atheists are despised (but allowed) in Utopia, as they are seen as representing a danger to the state: since they do not believe in any punishment or reward after this life, they have no reason to share the communistic life of Utopia and so will break the laws for their own gain. They are not banished, but are encouraged to talk out their erroneous beliefs with the priests until they are convinced of their error. Raphael says that through his teachings Christianity was beginning to take hold in Utopia. The toleration of all other religious ideas is enshrined in a universal prayer all the Utopians recite.
Slavery is a feature of Utopian life, and it is reported that every household has two slaves. The slaves are either from other countries (prisoners of war, people condemned to die, or poor people) or are the Utopian criminals. The criminals are weighed down with chains made out of gold. Gold is part of the community wealth of the country, and fettering criminals with it or using it for shameful things like chamber pots gives the citizens a healthy dislike of it. It also makes it difficult to steal, as it is in plain view. As a whole, wealth holds little importance and is good only for buying commodities from foreign nations or bribing the nations to fight each other. Slaves are periodically released for good behaviour. Jewels are worn by children, who finally give them up as they mature.
Other significant innovations of Utopia include a welfare state with free hospitals, euthanasia permissible by the state, priests being allowed to marry, divorce permitted, premarital sex punished by a lifetime of enforced celibacy and adultery being punished by enslavement. Meals are taken in community dining halls and the job of feeding the population is given to a different household in turn. Although all are fed the same, Raphael explains that the old and the administrators are given the best of the food. Travel on the island is permitted only with an internal passport, and any people found without a passport are, on the first occasion, returned in disgrace. After a second offence, they are placed in slavery. In addition, there are no lawyers. The law is made deliberately simple such that all Utopians will understand it, thus no one should be in doubt of what is right and wrong.
Wives are subject to their husbands, and husbands are subject to their wives, although women are mostly restricted to conducting household tasks. Only few widowed women become priests. While all are trained in military arts, women confess their sins to their husbands once a month. Gambling, hunting, makeup and astrology are all discouraged in Utopia. The role allocated to women in Utopia might, however, have been seen as being more liberal from a contemporary point of view.