Thomas More's Utopia

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. Private Property

2.1. Does not exist.

2.2. The only way property is owned is only if government is bought also and you can own it for 10 years.

3. Working life

3.1. Men and woman are educated alike

3.2. 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.

4. Happiness

4.1. New node

5. Government

5.1. More tries to convince Raphael that he could find a good job in a royal court, advising monarchs, 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.

6. Great Britain

6.1. Showing the bad point of British society.

7. Overview

7.1. Thomas More's utopia is a Christian humanist view of an ideal society.

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

7.3. Utopia offers a Christianized form of Plato's republic

8. Humor and Parody

8.1. Title means nowhere

8.2. the community government groups are called sty. (Pigs live in sty's)

9. Slavery

9.1. 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. These criminals are weighed down with chains made out of gold. The 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. The wealth, though, is of little importance and is only good for buying commodities from foreign nations or bribing these nations to fight each other. Slaves are periodically released for good behaviour.