Utopia

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For other uses, see Utopia (disambiguation).

Utopia, in its most common and general positive meaning, refers to the human efforts to create a better, or perhaps perfect society. Ideas which could be/are considered able to radically change our world are often called utopian ideas.

"Utopian" in a negative meaning is used to discredit ideas as too advanced, too optimistic or unrealistic, impossible to realize. Hence, for example, the use by Marxists, of such expressions as "utopian socialism".

It has also been used to describe actual communities founded in attempts to create such a society. Although some authors have described their utopias in detail, and with an effort to show a level of practicality, the term "utopia" has come to be applied to notions that are (supposedly) too optimistic and idealistic for practical application.

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Basics of Utopia

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Dictionary definition

Template:Wiktionary

Adjective - utopian:

According to Oxford dictionary, it is usually used negatively to criticise proposals or ideas having or aiming for a level of perfection of utopia which is impossible or very difficult to achieve.

Noun - utopian:

The word utopian can be used as a noun to mean someone who imagines, proposes, or supports a utopia.
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Derivation of utopia

The term utopia was coined by Thomas More as the title of his Latin book De Optimo Reipublicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia (circa 1516), known more commonly as Utopia. You can read the original text here, in the wikisource.

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Etymology

The term "utopia" is combined from 2 Greek words - "no" (ou) and "place / land" (topos), thus meaning "nowhere" or more literally, "no-place / no-land". The word "utopia" was created to suggest two Greek neologisms simultaneously: outopia (no place) and eutopia (good place). In this original context, the word carried none of the modern connotations associated with it.

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Related terms

  • Anti-utopia questions the moral or practical validity of utopias
  • Dystopia is a negative utopia.
  • Eutopia is a positive utopia, roughly equivalent to the regular use of the word "utopia".
  • Heterotopia, the "other place", with its real and imagined possibilities (a mix of "utopian" escapism and turning virtual possibilities into reality) - example: cyberspace. Samuel R. Delany's novel Trouble on Triton is subtitled An Ambiguous Heterotopia to highlight that it is not strictly utopian (though certainly not dystopian). The novel offers several conflicting perspectives on the concept of utopia.
  • Ourtopia combines the English 'our' with the Greek 'topos' to give 'our place' - the nearest thing to a utopian planet actually attainable,

Other subcategories include Arcadias and Cockaygnes. Ruth Levitas is one who has developed such a categorization.

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More's Utopia

Template:Main Thomas More depicts a rationally organised society, through the narration of an explorer who discovers it - Raphael Hythlodaeus.

Utopia is based on Plato's Republic, although More extended the communism of property to all citizens. Furthermore it is a perfect version of The Republic where the beauties of society, eg. equalism and a general pacifist attitude, although its citizens were all ready to fight if need be. The evils of society, eg. poverty and misery, are all removed. It has few laws, no lawyers and rarely sends its citizens to war, but hires mercenaries from among its war-prone neighbours (these mercenaries were deliberately sent into dangerous situations in the hope that they would be killed, thus ridding the world of a parasite).

It is likely that Thomas More, a religious layman who once considered joining the Church as a priest, was inspired by monastical life when he described the workings of his society. Thomas More lived during the age when the Renaissance was beginning to assert itself in England, and the old medieval ideals – including the monastic ideal – were declining. Some of Thomas More's ideas reflect a nostalgia for that medieval past. It was an inspiration for the Reducciones established by the Jesuits to Christianize and "civilize" the Guaraní.

His book reached high popularity so the term utopia became a byword for ideal concepts, proposals, societies etc. Like later utopian works, More's book contains explicit and implicit criticisms of perceived faults in existing societies. Utopian authors speculate that such faults could be eliminated in societies designed around their favored principles. The innovations portrayed in utopian visions are usually radical, revolutionary, inspirational, or speculative.

Throughout the years, many interpretations of Thomas More's work, Utopia, have arisen. Although countless individuals have chosen to accept this imaginary society as the realistic blueprint for a working nation, others have postulated More intended nothing of the like. Some maintain the position that More's Utopia functions only on the level of a satire, a work intended to reveal more about England than about an idealistic society.

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Types of utopia

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Economic utopia

These utopias are based on economics. Most of them formed in response to the harsh economic conditions of the 19th century. Particularly in the early nineteenth century, several utopian ideas arose, often in response to the social disruption created by the development of commercialism and capitalism. These are often grouped in a greater "utopian socialist" movement, due to their shared characteristics: an egalitarian distribution of goods, frequently with the total abolition of money, and citizens only doing work which they enjoy and which is for the common good, leaving them with ample time for the cultivation of the arts and sciences. One classic example of such a utopia was Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward. Another socialist utopia is William Morris' News from Nowhere, written partially in response to the top-down (bureaucratic) nature of Bellamy's utopia, which Morris criticized. However, as the socialist movement developed it moved away from utopianism; Marx in particular became a harsh critic of earlier socialisms he described as utopian. (for more information see the History of Socialism article)

Utopias have also been imagined by the opposite side of the political spectrum. For example, Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress portrays an individualistic and libertarian utopia. Capitalist utopias of this sort are generally based on perfect market economies, in which there is no market failure—or the issue of market failure is never addressed. Also consider Eric Frank Russell's book 'The Great Explosion'(1963) which last section details an economic and social utopia. This forms the first mention of the idea of 'LETS'.

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Political and historical utopia

Political utopias are ones in which the government establishes a society that is striving toward perfection. With that said, many such governments tend to be harsh in its execution of laws and allow little individualism if it conflicts with its primary goals. Many strive for a controlled society where the state or government replaces religious and family values (and loyalties for that matter).

A global utopia of world peace is often seen as one of the possible inevitable endings of history.

Sparta was a militaristic utopia founded by Lycurgus (though some, especially Athenians, may have thought it was rather a dystopia). It was a Greek power until its defeat by the Thebans at the battle of Leuctra.

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Religious utopia

These types of society are based on religious ideals. This makes its members required to follow and believe in the particular religion that established it. These tend to be the most common in history so far. The Christian and Islamic ideas of the Garden of Eden and Heaven tend to be a form of utopianism, especially in their folk-religious forms: inviting speculation about existence free of sin and poverty or any sorrow, beyond the power of death (although "heaven" in Christian eschatology at least, is more nearly equivalent to life within God Himself, visualized as an earth-like paradise in the sky). In a similar sense, the Buddhist concept of Nirvana may be thought of as a kind of utopia. Religious utopias, perhaps expansively described as a garden of delights, existence free of worry amid streets paved with gold, in a bliss of enlightenment enjoying nearly godlike powers, are often a reason for perceiving benefit in remaining faithful to a religion, and an incentive for converting new members.

In the United States during the Second Great Awakening of the nineteenth century, many radical religious groups formed utopian societies. They sought to form communities where all aspects of people's lives could be governed by their faith. Among the best-known of these utopian societies was the Shaker movement.

See also: End of the world, Eschatology, Millennialism, Utopianism

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Scientific and technological utopia

These are set in the future, when it is believed that advanced science and technology will allow utopian living standards; for example, the absence of death and suffering; changes in human nature and the human condition. These utopian societies tend to change what "human" is all about. Technology has affected the way humans have lived to such an extent that normal functions, like sleep, eating or even reproduction, has been replaced by an artificial means. Other kinds of this utopia envisioned, include a society where human has struck a balance with technology and it is merely used to enhance the human living condition (e.g. Star Trek). In place of the static perfection of a utopia, libertarian transhumanists envision an "extropia", an open, evolving society allowing individuals and voluntary groupings to form the institutions and social forms they prefer.

Garrett Jones published "Ourtopia" in 2004, arguing that, instead of a 'no place' we need to use all the resources at our command to make 'our place' proof against climate change and obsolete tribalisms. Buckminster Fuller presented a theoretical basis for technological utopianism and set out to develop a variety of technologies ranging from maps to designs for cars and houses which might lead to the development of such a utopia.

One notable example of a technological and libertarian socialist utopia is Scottish author Iain M. Bank's Culture.

See also: hedonistic imperative, transhumanism, technological singularity, abolitionist society, techno-utopia, technocratic movement

Opposing this optimism is the prediction that advanced science and technology will, through deliberate misuse or accident, cause environmental damage or even humanity's extinction. These pessimists advocate precautions against the premature embrace of new technologies.

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Examples of utopia

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Related terms and concepts

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Links on utopia

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Further reading

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