Utopia: An Unfulfilled Promise - Essay Example

?Utopia: An Unfulfilled Promise In conformity to the adage that the “Pen is Mightier than the Sword,” often raise their arms against injustices in the society when they occur. Therefore, Thomas More’s classical work Utopia, which has been published in the year 1516, can be perceived as a response that stems as a “revolt against the ascetic inequalities of the ancient and medieval polity” and in many ways reflects the traits of modern political philosophy.1 Thus, he conceived the ideal society of Utopia, illustrating his concepts of how the state and its government should act towards its citizens. Many scholars believe that Utopia also draws a parallel with The Republic by Plato, which also stipulates the norms for the ideal state and delineates how governance should typically be administered on the citizens. The Utopian society eschews the virtues of courage, pride and honor, which are the foundations of the values that the English polity thrives in. Moore believes that such virtues connote to an individual’s own dignity rather than the honor of the state, which is the primary consideration in the Utopian philosophy. The Utopians further believe in the “communism of property” as they think it will end pride, which is the “source of injustice.”2 They have embraced a rather socialistic perspective, where the state takes care of the people and provide them everything, including happiness. Utopia also is a secured place by way of its geographical placement and the citizens have no fear of invasion by outside powers. However, it transpires that the basis of their happiness and sense of well being does not derive from human spirituality but through a mere consideration of rationality. Thus, while the Utopian society claims to possess several significant advantages over other communities, many inherent flaws preempt them from being considered as the blue print for an ideal society. The most significant pursuit of every human being is happiness and in Utopia everybody appears to be happy because the State takes care of the people and fulfills all their requirements. Utopia claims to be the land of “perfect social stability and equality” where the community “nourishes everyone and cares for all” and everything is produced “in abundance.”3 However, the state requires that everybody has to work for “six hours” on a profession of his or her liking.4 Conceptually, when every person in a country works as per the guidelines of the government, it can be construed that the state will able to produce goods that surpass the demand. But, right at the center of such a situation derives the difficulty in describing a profession of his or her liking. Therefore, there cannot be a balance if most people choose to work on easy jobs that will offer them ample opportunity for relaxation. Similarly, Utopian society has also had the system of slavery and slaves were used to do “heavy works in the urban halls” and “butchering of cattle for meat” is done by servants.5 Though the slaves are either criminals or prisoners of war, such a system still breeds inequality within community and a society that encourages discrimination among its citizens cannot be perceived as an ideal society. Similarly, the happiness and contentment that Utopians claim in their society seem to focus only on material accomplishments such as food, clothing and shelter, which ignore the aspect of human spirituality. Though they say that they value mental pleasures “as the first and foremost of all pleasures” this does not seem to reflect on their deeds.6 This can be evidenced from the fact that “nine-tenth of the section on natural pleasure is consumed by a discussion of bodily health as an absence of pain, and, hence the ground of pleasure.”7 Thus, the Utopians are concerned with material pleasures and physical health. In fact, for a human being to really know and feel happiness, he or she needs to suffer in some context. Then only the happiness reaches a spiritual level. On the other hand, the Utopian happiness derives from their “rational hedonism or political Epicureanism.”8 In such a society, where there is no distinction from one person’s happiness with another’s it is not a genuine feeling but a mechanical conceptualization. Besides, for humans to have compassion in them, they also need to know pain through own experience and by observing the others. However, when the entire society remains automatically happy, people will be deprived of the opportunity to naturally acquire various feelings and emotions. Thus, the Utopian society cannot aspire to be an ideal society that can naturally nourish the intellectual or emotional faculties in humans. Utopia postulates profound thoughts through Fabricius that a person who amasses wealth when his fellow humans are “mourning and groaning” does not deserve to be a king.9 However, a king can harbor such thoughts only when he essentially values the traits of pride and honor. He should realize that his sense of purpose and determination surpasses other ordinary mortals and he has a unique quality that distinguishes him from others. However, the Utopian society does not consider pride and honor as virtues that a human should possess. In a society that does not require such individual values in a king, philosophies like this cannot be aligned to practice. On the other hand, Utopians are also found to be “oblivious to the rights of independence and claims of legitimacy of other peoples” and they are dangerous to their neighbors.10 The most basic tenet of human civilization is to recognize the right to independence of others and to respect people. Any society that does not recognize this need cannot be understood as being an ideal society because they will only respect and tolerate a specific group of people that belongs to their society. The Utopians assign the dirty work of killing their cattle to slaves “for they suffer none of their citizens to kill their cattle.”11 Thus, they believe it is legitimate to exploit other peoples for their personal comforts, which parallels to racial discrimination. The Utopian society, by virtue of its encouragement of such attitudes, does not fit into the scheme of an ideal society that humans aspire to have. Similarly, the Utopians also harbor a notion of “universal perfection of their institutions” and seek rewards from the “application of their justice.”12 This contradicts their claim that they have been able to vanquish pride by abolishing private property. In the same vein, Raphael Hythloday has not been able to rid himself of pride and this trait “re-emerges” in him with his “desire for personal, intellectual recognition.”13 Thus, it transpires that the existence of pride is a necessity in societies and without their sense of pride and honor human beings will not be able to have ambitions and gain the ability to work for attaining them. An ideal society is not recognized through the absence of pride in its citizens, but through its positive use for the overall welfare of humans irrespective of which community they belong to. It appears that the Utopian society is devoid this quality of an universal outlook about humanity because of the premise of their belief system. They consider Christianity as irrational as they feel the religion “destroys individual happiness” and further that humans with rationality will not “choose an ascetic life.”14 This kind of philosophy points to an essential flaw in their sense of spirituality. An ideal society should not focus its entire perspectives on physical well being as the definition of happiness. Moreover, humans need to derive mental satisfaction also, sometimes sacrificing bodily comforts, to attain a sense of completeness. The Utopians further contend that God will not “desire such a human behavior.”15 In this context, they fail to recognize the fact that God in no religion has meant humans to be happy, merely on physical level. In order for the human life to be complete, people should also know physical suffering while gaining mental strength to overcome it. These are nature courses of events that God’s plans for earthly beings involve. Thus, an ideal society should not encourage in its citizens the belief that God always intend physical comforts only for them. On the other hand it should exhort its members to show strength and resilience to overcome the difficulties in their path to make them true humans. Besides, the “opinions of Utopians about the immortality of the soul are designated only to serve this worldly human happiness.”16 This is yet another flaw that one will not expect to find in a society that can be termed as ideal. Whether there is another life beyond the realms of earthly existence for humans or not, it really matters how they accomplish the purity of their souls. Human history has witnessed philosophers like Socrates, who unflinchingly allowed his body to suffer pain to retain the purity of his soul. Therefore, an ideal society needs to exhort its citizens to recognize the value of their souls and think beyond physical comforts alone. The criminal justice system of Utopians envisages the punishment of slavery to criminals on the premise that “it is no less terrible to criminals themselves than death” and they believe that “preserving them in a state of servitude” is in the interest of the community.17 Thus, they approve of depriving a human of his freedom and relegate him to the life of servitude like in the case of a fiefdom. Enslaving a criminal is a disregard to his dignity and, therefore, an injustice. Many people value their dignity over their life and thus, it does not seem appropriate in an ideal society to disregard the dignity of individuals. Besides, they also take into consideration of the fact that it is beneficial to ‘their citizens’ and this emphasizes the fact that Utopians discounts the legitimacy of others for the sake of their people. In this context, it becomes relevant that Utopus, who built the Utopian society, was an invader who conquered the region brought the “rude and uncivilized inhabitants” through his good governance and made them “excel all the rest of mankind.”18 Thus, the society has twofold traits, which may be the reason for their intolerance towards other peoples. Evidence suggests that his fundamental trait includes an “enlightened sense of human dignity, based here on belief in the immortality of the soul.”19 However, his trait seems to be missing from the society he created, perhaps owing to their basic barbarian nature. As such, it appears that this society cannot be perceived as a blueprint for an ideal society in the real sense of the word. The concept of an ideal society does not merely envisage the physical well being and material benefits of humans. People should not understand happiness merely in the context of physical comforts and also need to recognize the significance of spirituality in the attainment of happiness. An ideal society need to inculcate these values in people and make them appreciate the relevance of spirituality. Such societies also need to acknowledge the fact that all humans are equal and recognize their rights and legitimacy for freedom and equality. Therefore, the ideal society will not discriminate people based on any criteria. An ideal society also need to value individual pride and honor that distinguishes one from the other. Only if the society nourish and value individual achievements, healthy competition for positive outcomes can be sustained. Thus, it transpires that though the Utopian society has several positive aspects that are quite good for its citizens and it can set a good example for governance, it cannot become a blueprint for an ideal society and it contains certain basic flaws. Bibliography Baker-Smith, Dominic. More’s Utopia. Renaissance Society of America, 2000. Engeman, Thomas, S. Hythloday’s Utopia and More’s England: An Interpretation of Thomas More’s Utopia. Vol.44 No.1 The Journal of Politics: Southern Political Science Association, 1982. Festante, Raoul. Utopia and Anti-Utopia: A Comparison of Thomas More’s Utopia and George Orwell’s 1984. GRIN Verlag, 2003. More, Thomas. Utopia. Planetpdf.com. p.49. Read More