Utopia - Thomas More

1. Christian Synthesis

1.1. The Christian aspect of the synthesis is Christ's gospel of caring for the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden.

1.2. The Platonic, Republican tradition is the Greek aspect of the synthesis.

1.3. More wrote Utopia with a comedic tone, allowing him to speak his truth while telling a deeper story.

2. Property Division

2.1. There is no private ownership 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, which are rotated between the citizens every ten years.

3. Slavery

3.1. Slavery is a feature of Utopian life and it is reported that every household has two slaves. The slaves are either from other countries or are the Utopian criminals. Slaves are periodically released for good behavior.

4. Social Critique of Great Britain

4.1. He is saying Britain is not perfect.

5. Overview

5.1. Thomas More's Utopia is a Christian-humanist view of an ideal society.

5.2. More does not simply offer a theoretical view, but provides specifics for how to create this world.

5.3. Utopia offers a Christianized form of Plato's Republic.

6. Humor and Parody

6.1. Utopia means nowhere

6.2. The community political system is called a sty.

7. Working Life

7.1. Agriculture is the most important job 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. Parallel to this, 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 these 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 minimised: the people only have to work 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 are however encouraged to apply themselves to learning in their leisure time.

8. Government

8.1. 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 only permitted with an internal passport and anyone found without a passport they are, on a first occasion, returned in disgrace, but after a second offence they are placed into slavery. In addition, there are no lawyers and the law is made deliberately simple, as all should understand it and not leave people in any doubt of what is right and wrong.

9. Find Happiness

9.1. Through the ethics of Jesus