A utopia ( / j uː ˈ t oʊ p i ə / yoo- TOH -pee-ə ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia , which describes a fictional island society in the New World .
140-442: Edward Bellamy (March 26, 1850 – May 22, 1898) was an American author, journalist, and political activist most famous for his utopian novel Looking Backward . Bellamy's vision of a harmonious future world inspired the formation of numerous " Nationalist Clubs " dedicated to the propagation of his political ideas. After working as a journalist and writing several unremarkable novels, Bellamy published Looking Backward in 1888. It
280-495: A Freemason . Bellamy attended public school at Chicopee Falls before leaving for Union College of Schenectady, New York , where he studied for just two semesters. Upon leaving school, he made his way to Europe for a year, spending extensive time in Germany. He briefly studied law but abandoned that field without ever having practiced as a lawyer, instead entering the world of journalism. In this capacity Bellamy briefly served on
420-442: A microcosm in which the universe is reflected is of ancient origin. This understanding of the human being enjoyed immense success in the 12th century when authors as different as Bernardus Silvestris and Godfrey of Saint Victor made use of it. Hildegard of Bingen and Honorius Augustodunensis developed a whole system of correspondences between “the little world” and the universe, the macrocosm, correspondences that also played
560-473: A Romance of Shays' Rebellion was published in 1900. Edward Bellamy died of tuberculosis in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts ten years after the publication of his most famous book. He was 48 years old. His lifelong home in Chicopee Falls, built by his father, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971. Bellamy was the cousin of Francis Bellamy , famous for writing the original version of
700-423: A constitution comprising emotional predispositions that direct them to goodness. Mencius also addresses the question why the capacity for evil is not grounded in human nature. If an individual becomes bad, it is not the result of his or her constitution, as their constitution contains the emotional predispositions that direct to goodness, but a matter of injuring or not fully developing his or her constitution in
840-406: A country relieved of its social ills through abandonment of the principle of competition and establishment of state ownership of industry proved an appealing panacea to a generation of intellectuals alienated from the dark side of Gilded Age America. By 1891 it was reported that no fewer than 162 Nationalist Clubs were in existence. Bellamy's use of the term "Nationalism" rather than "socialism" as
980-420: A descriptor of his governmental vision was calculated, as he did not want to limit either sales of his novel or the potential influence of its political ideas. In an 1888 letter to literary critic William Dean Howells , Bellamy wrote: Every sensible man will admit there is a big deal in a name, especially in making first impressions. In the radicalness of the opinions I have expressed, I may seem to out-socialize
1120-417: A distinction between seeming and being good, as he does not entertain the idea that humans are good. Rather, as human nature is constituted by self-interest, he argues that humans can be shaped behaviorally to yield social order if it is in the individual's own self-interest to abide by the norms (i.e., different interests are aligned to each other and the social good ), which is most efficiently ensured if
1260-637: A far from negligible role in medieval medicine and the doctrine of the four temperaments . The origin of the definition of man as a “ rational animal ” also went back to Antiquity. The problem of the relation between the Soul and the body which was implicitly contained in this definition, gave rise to very important debates after the arrival of Aristotle in the West and the Translation of Greek and Arabic philosophical texts. The dualist position whose cause
1400-635: A greater "utopian socialist" movement, due to their shared characteristics. A once common characteristic is an egalitarian distribution of goods, frequently with the total abolition of money . Citizens only do 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 appears in Edward Bellamy 's 1888 novel Looking Backward . William Morris depicts another socialist utopia in his 1890 novel News from Nowhere , written partially in response to
1540-442: A new space. Utopia is not kind of a free imagination utopia is a matter of inner most urgency, you are forced to imagine it, it is the only way out, and this is what we need today." Philosopher Milan Šimečka said: ...utopism was a common type of thinking at the dawn of human civilization . We find utopian beliefs in the oldest religious imaginations, appear regularly in the neighborhood of ancient, yet pre-philosophical views on
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#17327732783411680-474: A period of turbulent development of capitalism that highlighted antagonisms of capitalist society ( Saint-Simon , Fourier , Owen , Cabet , Lamennais , Proudhon and their followers). Famous quotes from writers and characters about utopia: Utopian socialist Étienne Cabet in his utopian book The Voyage to Icaria cited the definition from the contemporary Dictionary of ethical and political sciences : Utopias and other models of government, based on
1820-430: A problem as a thesis on which to base immortality. In accepting Aristotelian hylomorphism , Thomas Aquinas insisted on the unity of the human composite. The intellective soul is hence the form by which “man is a being in act, a body, a living thing, an animal and a man” ( Summa theologiae I a, q. 76, a. 6, ad 1). By the act of intellection, which, in its exercise, is independent of the body, Thomas tried to demonstrate that
1960-459: A rigorous 50-year-long educational program to be benign oligarchs, the "philosopher-kings." Plato stressed this structure many times in statements, and in his published works, such as the Republic . The wisdom of these rulers will supposedly eliminate poverty and deprivation through fairly distributed resources, though the details on how to do this are unclear. The educational program for the rulers
2100-526: A sense of compassion that develops into benevolence ( 仁 ; ren ), a sense of shame and disdain that develops into righteousness ( 義 ; yi ), a sense of respect and courtesy that develops into propriety ( 禮 ; li ), and a sense of right and wrong that develops into wisdom ( 智 ; zhi ). The beginnings of morality are characterized by both affective motivations and intuitive judgments, such as what's right and wrong, deferential , respectful, or disdainful. In Mencius' view, goodness
2240-623: A sequel to Looking Backward , in 1897, and died the following year. Edward Bellamy was born in Chicopee, Massachusetts . His father was Rufus King Bellamy (1816–1886), a Baptist minister and a descendant of Joseph Bellamy . His mother, Maria Louisa Putnam Bellamy, was a Calvinist. She was the daughter of a Baptist minister named Benjamin Putnam, who was forced to withdraw from the ministry in Salem, Massachusetts , following objections to his becoming
2380-404: A social framework characterized by vigorous competition between alternative philosophies. The English political philosopher James Harrington (1611–1677), author of the utopian work The Commonwealth of Oceana , published in 1656, inspired English country-party republicanism (1680s to 1740s) and became influential in the design of three American colonies. His theories ultimately contributed to
2520-408: A special connection between human nature and divinity , whereby human nature is understood in terms of final and formal causes . More specifically, this perspective believes that nature itself (or a nature-creating divinity) has intentions and goals, including the goal for humanity to live naturally. Such understandings of human nature see this nature as an "idea", or " form " of a human. However,
2660-539: A species to become extraordinarily cooperative and capable of creating culture . The Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible depicts an eschatological time with the defeat of Satan , of Evil and of Sin . The main difference compared to the Old Testament promises is that such a defeat also has an ontological value: "Then I saw 'a new heaven and a new earth ,' for the first heaven and
2800-415: A striking picture of man's weaknesses and infirmities. When in 1452 Giannozzo Manetti eulogized the beauty and excellence of man, body and Soul, he wished to reply to the lamentation of Innocent, whose work had an immense success. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola too, in his celebrated Discourse on the dignity of man , expounded a very high idea of man. Pico celebrated first the radical freedom of man, who
2940-529: A utopia, dystopia is a concept which surpassed utopia in popularity in the fictional literature from the 1950s onwards, chiefly because of the impact of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four . In 1876, writer Charles Renouvier published a novel called Uchronia ( French Uchronie ). The neologism , using chronos instead of topos , has since been used to refer to non-existent idealized times in fiction, such as Philip Roth 's The Plot Against America (2004) , and Philip K. Dick 's The Man in
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#17327732783413080-601: Is "spiritual, Biblical, and theistic"; and the second is " natural , cosmical , and anti-theistic ". The focus in this section is on the former. As William James put it in his study of human nature from a religious perspective, "religion" has a "department of human nature". Various views of human nature have been held by theologians. However, there are some "basic assertions" in all " biblical anthropology :" The Bible contains no single "doctrine of human nature". Rather, it provides material for more philosophical descriptions of human nature. For example, Creation as found in
3220-555: Is Held in Common' Tianxia weigong( Chinese : 天下爲公 ; pinyin : Tiānxià wèi gōng ) influenced modern Chinese reformers and revolutionaries, such as Kang Youwei . It is said, once Maitreya is reborn into the future kingdom of Ketumati , a utopian age will commence. The city is described in Buddhism as a domain filled with palaces made of gems and surrounded by Kalpavriksha trees producing goods. During its years, none of
3360-496: Is a radical change" that involves a "renewal of our [human] nature". Thus, to counter original sin, Christianity purposes "a complete transformation of individuals" by Christ. The goal of Christ's coming is that fallen humanity might be "conformed to or transformed into the image of Christ who is the perfect image of God", as in 2 Corinthians 4 :4. The New Testament makes clear the "universal need" for regeneration. A sampling of biblical portrayals of regenerating human nature and
3500-505: Is a vestige of God, while beings endowed with intelligence are images of God since God is present in acts of memory , intellect and will as their principle. By an original fusion of Christology and the doctrine of man as image of God, Meister Eckhart wished to go beyond the traditional distinction between the Son, image of the Father, and man created in the image of God. The motif of man as
3640-463: Is absent. Han Fei also argues that people are all motivated by their unchanging selfish core to want whatever advantage they can gain from whomever they can gain such advantage, which especially comes to expression in situations where people can act with impunity . Legalists posit that the selfishness in human nature can be an asset rather than a threat to a state. It is axiomatic in Legalism that
3780-458: Is based on a distrust of human nature. Adherents to this philosophy do not concern themselves with whether human goodness or badness is inborn, and whether human beings possess the fundamental qualities associated with that nature. Legalists see the overwhelming majority of human beings as selfish in nature. They hold the view that human nature is evil. They believe that one should not expect that people will behave morally. For instance, due to
3920-465: Is bolstered by the title of the book and nation and its apparent confusion between the Greek for "no place" and "good place": "utopia" is a compound of the syllable ou-, meaning "no" and topos, meaning place. But the homophonic prefix eu-, meaning "good," also resonates in the word, with the implication that the perfectly "good place" is really "no place." In many cultures, societies, and religions, there
4060-498: Is capable of choosing himself, i.e. of giving himself his own essence: “I have given you neither a determined place, nor a face of your own, says the creator, nor any particular gift, O Adam, so that your place, your face and your gifts you may will, conquer and possess by yourself. Nature encloses other species in laws established by me. But you, whom no boundary limits, by your own free will, in whose hands I have placed you, define yourself.” This anthropology, which has been celebrated as
4200-474: Is dispute as to whether or not such an essence actually exists. Arguments about human nature have been a central focus of philosophy for centuries and the concept continues to provoke lively philosophical debate. While both concepts are distinct from one another, discussions regarding human nature are typically related to those regarding the comparative importance of genes and environment in human development (i.e., ' nature versus nurture '). Accordingly,
4340-555: Is essential for the improvement of the human condition. But if used wrongly, it becomes dangerous. Utopia has an inherent contradictory nature here. The opposite of a utopia is a dystopia . Utopian and dystopian fiction has become a popular literary category. Despite being common parlance for something imaginary, utopianism inspired and was inspired by some reality-based fields and concepts such as architecture , file sharing , social networks , universal basic income , communes , open borders and even pirate bases . The word utopia
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4480-536: Is in human nature to have likes and dislikes. For instance, according to the Legalist statesman Shang Yang , it is crucial to investigate the disposition of people in terms of rewards and penalties when a law is established. He explains that a populace can not be driven to pursuits of agriculture or warfare if people consider these to be bitter or dangerous on the basis of calculations about their possible benefits, but people can be directed toward these pursuits through
4620-417: Is made of plant cells (matter); grows from an acorn (effect); exhibits the nature of oak trees (form); and grows into a fully mature oak tree (end). According to Aristotle, human nature is an example of a formal cause. Likewise, our 'end' is to become a fully actualized human being (including fully actualizing the mind). Aristotle suggests that the human intellect ( νοῦς , noûs ), while "smallest in bulk",
4760-465: Is not a good name for a party to succeed with in America. No such party can or ought to succeed that is not wholly and enthusiastically American and patriotic in spirit and suggestions. Bellamy himself came to actively participate in the political movement which emerged around his book, particularly after 1891 when he founded his own magazine, The New Nation , and began to promote united action between
4900-519: Is not realized or feasible, but has the ideal that is somewhere beyond the horizon, a lighthouse to which it may seek to approach if it considers that ideal socially valid and generally accepted." Chronologically, the first recorded Utopian proposal is Plato 's Republic . Part conversation, part fictional depiction and part policy proposal, Republic would categorize citizens into a rigid class structure of "golden," "silver," "bronze" and "iron" socioeconomic classes. The golden citizens are trained in
5040-465: Is nothing good in my sinful nature." The theological "doctrine of original sin" as an inherent element of human nature is not based only on the Bible. It is in part a "generalization from obvious facts" open to empirical observation. A number of experts on human nature have described the manifestations of original (i.e., the innate tendency to) sin as empirical facts. Empirical discussion questioning
5180-450: Is some myth or memory of a distant past when humankind lived in a primitive and simple state but at the same time one of perfect happiness and fulfillment. In those days, the various myths tell us, there was an instinctive harmony between humanity and nature. People's needs were few and their desires limited. Both were easily satisfied by the abundance provided by nature. Accordingly, there were no motives whatsoever for war or oppression. Nor
5320-430: Is sometimes called " total depravity ". Total depravity does not mean that humanity is as "thoroughly depraved" as it could become. Commenting on Romans 2 :14, John Calvin writes that all people have "some notions of justice and rectitude ... which are implanted by nature" all people. Adam embodied the "whole of human nature" so when Adam sinned "all of human nature sinned." The Old Testament does not explicitly link
5460-447: Is the central notion of the proposal. It has few laws, no lawyers and rarely sends its citizens to war but hires mercenaries from among its war-prone neighbors. These mercenaries were deliberately sent into dangerous situations in the hope that the more warlike populations of all surrounding countries will be weeded out, leaving peaceful peoples to remain. During the 16th century, Thomas More's book Utopia proposed an ideal society of
5600-571: Is the most significant part of the human psyche and should be cultivated above all else. The cultivation of learning and intellectual growth of the philosopher is thereby also the happiest and least painful life. Human nature is a central question in Chinese philosophy . From the Song dynasty , the theory of innate goodness of human beings became dominant in Confucianism . It is in contrast to
5740-411: Is the only viable system. In contrast, a political system based on trust and respect (rather than impersonal norms and standards) brings great concern with regard to an ongoing and irresolvable power struggle. Legalists propose that control is a foundation of governing, which is achieved through reward and punishment. They view the usage of reward and punishment as effective political controls, as it
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5880-463: Is the result of the development of innate tendencies toward the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, wisdom, and propriety. The tendencies are manifested in moral emotions for every human being. Reflection ( 思 ; si ) upon the manifestations of the four beginnings leads to the development of virtues. It brings recognition that virtue takes precedence over satisfaction, but a lack of reflection inhibits moral development. In other words, humans have
6020-399: Is this old notion of imagining this ideal society we know will never be realized, the other is the capitalist utopia in the sense of new perverse desire that you are not only allowed but even solicited to realize. The true utopia is when the situation is so without issue, without the way to resolve it within the coordinates of the possible that out of the pure urge of survival you have to invent
6160-532: Is traditionally said to have begun in Greek philosophy , at least in regard to its heavy influence on Western and Middle Eastern languages and perspectives. By late antiquity and medieval times , the particular approach that came to be dominant was that of Aristotle 's teleology , whereby human nature was believed to exist somehow independently of individuals, causing humans to simply become what they become. This, in turn, has been understood as also demonstrating
6300-576: The Aristotelian corpus favoured the discussion of another anthropological formula. In his Politics (I, 2; 1253 a 1-2), Aristotle advanced the idea that man was a “political animal”. This conception opened up the possibility of a political anthropology of which Marsilius of Padua and Dante Alighieri provide remarkable examples. Membership of the human community was perceived as a constitutive element of humanity. In this context, certain authors reflected on communication and discovered that language
6440-555: The Book of Genesis provides a theory on human nature. Catechism of the Catholic Church , under the chapter "Dignity of the human person", provides an article about man as image of God, vocation to beatitude , freedom, human acts, passions, moral conscience, virtues, and sin. As originally created, the Bible describes "two elements" in human nature: "the body and the breath or spirit of life breathed into it by God". By this
6580-531: The Old Testament and the New Testament teach that "sin is universal." For example, Psalm 51 :5 reads: "For behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me." Jesus taught that everyone is a "sinner naturally" because it is humanity's "nature and disposition to sin". Paul, in Romans 7 :18, speaks of his "sinful nature". Such a "recognition that there is something wrong with
6720-973: The Pledge of Allegiance . Bellamy Road , a residential road in Toronto , is named for the author. Utopia Hypothetical utopias focus on, among other things, equality in categories such as economics , government and justice , with the method and structure of proposed implementation varying according to ideology. Lyman Tower Sargent argues that the nature of a utopia is inherently contradictory because societies are not homogeneous and have desires which conflict and therefore cannot simultaneously be satisfied. To quote: There are socialist, capitalist, monarchical, democratic, anarchist, ecological, feminist, patriarchal, egalitarian, hierarchical, racist, left-wing, right-wing, reformist, free love, nuclear family, extended family, gay, lesbian and many more utopias [ Naturism , Nude Christians , ...] Utopianism, some argue,
6860-869: The Shakers , who originated in England in the 18th century and arrived in America in 1774. A number of religious utopian societies from Europe came to the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, including the Society of the Woman in the Wilderness (led by Johannes Kelpius (1667–1708), the Ephrata Cloister (established in 1732) and the Harmony Society , among others. The Harmony Society
7000-434: The heavens to study of the human things. Though leaving no written works, Socrates is said to have studied the question of how a person should best live. It is clear from the works of his students, Plato and Xenophon , and also from the accounts of Aristotle (Plato's student), that Socrates was a rationalist and believed that the best life and the life most suited to human nature involved reasoning . The Socratic school
7140-488: The idyllic state of affairs they describe is not irretrievably and irrevocably lost to mankind, that it can be regained in some way or other. One way might be a quest for an "earthly paradise" – a place like Shangri-La , hidden in the Tibetan mountains and described by James Hilton in his utopian novel Lost Horizon (1933). Christopher Columbus followed directly in this tradition in his belief that he had found
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#17327732783417280-620: The "corruption of human nature" to Adam's sin. However, the "universality of sin" implies a link to Adam. In the New Testament, Paul concurs with the "universality of sin". He also makes explicit what the Old Testament implied: the link between humanity's "sinful nature" and Adam's sin In Romans 5 :19, Paul writes, "through [Adam's] disobedience humanity became sinful." Paul also applied humanity's sinful nature to himself: "there
7420-454: The 14th century ( William of Ockham , Jean Buridan ), the philosophical proofs of the soul's immortality were contested, but the debate was particularly lively in the 15th and early 16th centuries. Marsilio Ficino ’s Platonic Theology (1474) can be understood as a vast defence of the immortality of the soul, while Pietro Pomponazzi († 1525) fought most vigorously against the very idea of any proof in favour of immortality. The rediscovery of
7560-655: The Garden of Eden when, towards the end of the 15th century, he first encountered the New World and its indigenous inhabitants. The Peach Blossom Spring ( Chinese : 桃花源 ; pinyin : Táohuāyuán ), a prose piece written by the Chinese poet Tao Yuanming , describes a utopian place. The narrative goes that a fisherman from Wuling sailed upstream a river and came across a beautiful blossoming peach grove and lush green fields covered with blossom petals. Entranced by
7700-617: The Greek historian and biographer of the 1st century, dealt with the blissful and mythic past of humanity. From Sir Philip Sidney 's prose romance The Old Arcadia (1580), originally a region in the Peloponnesus , Arcadia became a synonym for any rural area that serves as a pastoral setting, a locus amoenus ("delightful place"). The Biblical Garden of Eden as depicted in the Old Testament Bible 's Book of Genesis 2 ( Authorized Version of 1611 ): And
7840-580: The High Castle (1962) . According to the Philosophical Dictionary , proto-utopian ideas begin as early as the period of ancient Greece and Rome, medieval heretics , peasant revolts and establish themselves in the period of the early capitalism, reformation and Renaissance ( Hus , Müntzer , More , Campanella ), democratic revolutions ( Meslier , Morelly , Mably , Winstanley , later Babeufists , Blanquists ,) and in
7980-480: The Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. [...] And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; [...] And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs and closed up
8120-450: The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil . [...] And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And
8260-528: The United Kingdom as well, more than 235,000 copies being sold there between 1890 and 1935. In Looking Backward , a non-violent revolution had transformed the American economy and thereby society; private property had been abolished in favor of state ownership of capital and the elimination of social classes and the ills of society that he thought inevitably followed from them. In the new world of
8400-442: The absence of death and suffering ; changes in human nature and the human condition . Technology has affected the way humans have lived to such an extent that normal functions, like sleep, eating or even reproduction, have been replaced by artificial means. Other examples include a society where humans have struck a balance with technology and it is merely used to enhance the human living condition (e.g. Star Trek ). In place of
8540-485: The application of positive and negative incentives. On the selfishness in human nature, Han Fei remarks that "Those who act as ministers fear the penalties and hope to profit by the rewards." In Han Fei's view, the only realistic option is a political system that produces equivalents of junzi (君子, who are virtuous exemplars in Confucianism) but not actual junzi . This does not mean, however, that Han Fei makes
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#17327732783418680-400: The appropriate direction. He recognizes desires of the senses as natural predispositions distinct from the four beginnings. People can be misled and led astray by their desires if they do not engage their ethical motivations. He therefore places responsibility on people to reflect on the manifestations of the four beginnings. Herein, it is not the function of ears and eyes but the function of
8820-403: The basis to maintain order. In Han Fei's view, a core feature of human nature is that humans are selfish, but that their desires are satiable. He argues that competition for external goods produces disorder during times of scarcity due to this nature. If there is no scarcity, humans may treat each other well, but they will not become nice; it is that they do not turn to disorder when scarcity
8960-504: The beauty, he continued upstream and stumbled onto a small grotto when he reached the end of the river. Though narrow at first, he was able to squeeze through the passage and discovered an ethereal utopia, where the people led an ideal existence in harmony with nature. He saw a vast expanse of fertile lands, clear ponds, mulberry trees, bamboo groves and the like with a community of people of all ages and houses in neat rows. The people explained that their ancestors escaped to this place during
9100-451: The beginning of modernity, is not in opposition to religion since this dignity of man belongs to him precisely because he is the image of God according to the biblical word. Yet, with an unprecedented intensity, Pico was able to give a luminous and powerful expression to this profound truth that “man outruns in advance all defined concept of man” ( O. Boulnois ). In Christian theology, there are two ways of "conceiving human nature:" The first
9240-525: The behavioral results follow. Although this new realism applied to the study of human life from the beginning—for example, in Machiavelli 's works—the definitive argument for the final rejection of Aristotle was associated especially with Francis Bacon . Bacon sometimes wrote as if he accepted the traditional four causes ("It is a correct position that "true knowledge is knowledge by causes." And causes again are not improperly distributed into four kinds:
9380-404: The causes and meaning of natural events, the purpose of creation, the path of good and evil, happiness and misfortune, fairy tales and legends later inspired by poetry and philosophy ... the underlying motives on which utopian literature is built are as old as the entire historical epoch of human history. ” Philosopher Richard Stahel said: ...every social organization relies on something that
9520-502: The civil unrest of the Qin dynasty and they themselves had not left since or had contact with anyone from the outside. They had not even heard of the later dynasties of bygone times or the then-current Jin dynasty . In the story, the community was secluded and unaffected by the troubles of the outside world. The sense of timelessness was predominant in the story as a perfect utopian community remains unchanged, that is, it had no decline nor
9660-421: The concept also continues to play a role in academic fields, such as both the natural and the social sciences , and philosophy , in which various theorists claim to have yielded insight into human nature. Human nature is traditionally contrasted with human attributes that vary among societies , such as those associated with specific cultures . The concept of nature as a standard by which to make judgments
9800-468: The corrupt nature of humans, they did not trust that officials would carry out their duties in a fair and impartial manner. There is a perpetual political struggle, characterized by conflict among contending human actors and interests, where individuals are easily tempted due to their selfish nature at the expense of others. According to Legalism, the selfishness in human nature can not be eliminated or altered by education or self-cultivation. It dismisses
9940-555: The daily grind of journalism in favor of literary work, which put fewer demands upon his time and his health. Bellamy married Emma Augusta Sanderson in 1882. The couple had two children. Bellamy's early novels, including Six to One (1878), Dr. Heidenhoff's Process (1880), and Miss Ludington's Sister (1885), were unremarkable works, making use of standard psychological plots. A turn to utopian science fiction with Looking Backward, 2000–1887 , published in January 1888, captured
10080-532: The development of such a utopia. In his book Deep Utopia: Life and Meaning in a Solved World , philosopher Nick Bostrom explores what to do in a "solved world", assuming that human civilization safely builds machine superintelligence and manages to solve its political, coordination and fairness problems. He outlines some technologies considered physically possible at technological maturity, such as cognitive enhancement , reversal of aging , self-replicating spacecrafts , arbitrary sensory inputs (taste, sound...), or
10220-541: The dignity of man manifests yet another aspect of medieval anthropology. An astonishing expression of it appears in John Scotus Eriugena ’s De divisione naturae (book IV) where it is said of man that “his substance is the notion by which he knows himself” ( PL , 122, 770A). This optimism contrasts with the perspectives sketched out by Lotario dei Segni, the future Pope Innocent III , in the opusculum De Miseria Condicionis Humane (1195–119) which offers
10360-579: The early 19th century, such thinkers as Darwin , Freud , Marx , Kierkegaard , Nietzsche , and Sartre , as well as structuralists and postmodernists more generally, have also sometimes argued against a fixed or innate human nature. Charles Darwin 's theory of evolution has particularly changed the shape of the discussion, supporting the proposition that the ancestors of modern humans were not like humans today. As in much of modern science, such theories seek to explain with little or no recourse to metaphysical causation. They can be offered to explain
10500-446: The early 20th century described human nature as "basically good", needing only "proper training and education". But the above examples document the return to a "more realistic view" of human nature "as basically sinful and self-centered ". Human nature needs "to be regenerated ... to be able to live the unselfish life". According to the Bible , "Adam's disobedience corrupted human nature" but God mercifully "regenerates". "Regeneration
10640-477: The early-19th century also centred on economic considerations, but with a view to preserving class distinctions; Wakefield influenced several colonies founded in New Zealand and Australia in the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s. In 1905, H. G. Wells published A Modern Utopia , which was widely read and admired and provoked much discussion. Also consider Eric Frank Russell 's book The Great Explosion (1963),
10780-485: The existence of this human nature necessitates education and cultivation of goodness. Xunzi argues that human nature is evil and that any goodness is the result of human activity. It is human nature to seek profit, because humans desire for sensory satisfaction. He states that "Now the nature of man is evil. It must depend on teachers and laws to become correct and achieve propriety and righteousness and then it becomes disciplined." He underscores that goodness comes from
10920-481: The existence of this invariable and metaphysical human nature is subject of much historical debate, continuing into modern times. Against Aristotle's notion of a fixed human nature, the relative malleability of man has been argued especially strongly in recent centuries—firstly by early modernists such as Thomas Hobbes , John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau . In his Emile, or On Education , Rousseau wrote: "We do not know what our nature permits us to be." Since
11060-408: The first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea...'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" and no longer just gnosiological ( Isaiah : "See, I will create/new heavens and a new earth./The former things will not be remembered,/nor will they come to mind". Narrow interpretation of
11200-635: The flesh instead thereof and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman and brought her unto the man. According to the exegesis that the biblical theologian Herbert Haag proposes in the book Is original sin in Scripture? , published soon after the Second Vatican Council , Genesis 2:25 would indicate that Adam and Eve were created from the beginning naked of the divine grace , an originary grace that, then, they would never have had and even less would have lost due to
11340-765: The form) are but slight and superficial, and contribute little, if anything, to true and active science. This line of thinking continued with René Descartes , whose new approach returned philosophy or science to its pre-Socratic focus upon non-human things. Thomas Hobbes , then Giambattista Vico , and David Hume all claimed to be the first to properly use a modern Baconian scientific approach to human things. Hobbes famously followed Descartes in describing humanity as matter in motion, just like machines. He also very influentially described man's natural state (without science and artifice) as one where life would be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short". Following him, John Locke 's philosophy of empiricism also saw human nature as
11480-603: The foundations and consequences of the vision of man implied in this statement. While Bernard of Clairvaux considered that man was the image of God by inamissible free will ( De gratia et libero arbitrio , IV, 9; IX, 28), the majority of authors envisaged a likeness between God and man that was based on reason. Thus, according to Thomas Aquinas , man can be called imago Dei by reason of his intellectual Nature, for “intellectual nature imitates God especially in that God knows himself and loves himself” ( Summa theologiae I a, q. 93, a. 4). According to Bonaventure , all created being
11620-409: The genetic exclusivity of such an intrinsic badness proposition is presented by researchers Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson . In their book, Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior , they propose a theory of multilevel group selection in support of an inherent genetic " altruism " in opposition to the original sin exclusivity for human nature. Liberal theologians in
11760-450: The government can not be staffed by upright and trustworthy men of service, because every member of the elite—like any other member of society—will pursue their own interests and thus must be employed for their interests. Herein, individuals must be allowed to pursue their selfish interests exclusively in a manner that benefits rather than contradicts the needs of a state. Therefore, a political system that presupposes this human selfishness
11900-591: The heart to reflect, as sensory organs are associated with sensual desires but the heart is the seat of feeling and thinking. Mencius considers core virtues—benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom—as internal qualities that humans originally possess, so people can not attain full satisfaction by solely pursuits of self-interest due to their innate morality. Wong (2018) underscores that Mencius' characterization of human nature as good means that "it contains predispositions to feel and act in morally appropriate ways and to make intuitive normative judgments that can with
12040-549: The idealistic principles of the American Founders. The colonies of Carolina (founded in 1670), Pennsylvania (founded in 1681), and Georgia (founded in 1733) were the only three English colonies in America that were planned as utopian societies with an integrated physical, economic and social design. At the heart of the plan for Georgia was a concept of "agrarian equality" in which land was allocated equally and additional land acquisition through purchase or inheritance
12180-550: The inhabitants of Jambudvipa will need to take part in cultivation and hunger will no longer exist. In the 21st century, discussions around utopia for some authors include post-scarcity economics , late capitalism , and universal basic income ; for example, the "human capitalism" utopia envisioned in Utopia for Realists ( Rutger Bregman 2016) includes a universal basic income and a 15-hour workweek , along with open borders . Scandinavian nations , which as of 2019 ranked at
12320-628: The key activists of the Nationalist Clubs largely absorbed into the apparatus of the People's Party (although a Nationalist Party did run three candidates for office in Wisconsin as late as 1896), Bellamy abandoned politics for a return to literature. He set to work on a sequel to Looking Backward titled Equality , attempting to deal with the ideal society of the post-revolutionary future in greater detail. In this final work, he addressed
12460-478: The last section of which details an economic and social utopia. This forms the first mention of the idea of Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS). During the " Khrushchev Thaw " period, the Soviet writer Ivan Efremov produced the science-fiction utopia Andromeda (1957) in which a major cultural thaw took place: humanity communicates with a galaxy-wide Great Circle and develops its technology and culture within
12600-699: The longest-running financially successful communes in American history. The Oneida Community , founded by John Humphrey Noyes in Oneida, New York , was a utopian religious commune that lasted from 1848 to 1881. Although this utopian experiment has become better known today for its manufacture of Oneida silverware, it was one of the longest-running communes in American history. The Amana Colonies were communal settlements in Iowa , started by radical German pietists , which lasted from 1855 to 1932. The Amana Corporation , manufacturer of refrigerators and household appliances,
12740-747: The majority of the secular communes failed within 8 years. Sosis cites anthropologist Roy Rappaport in arguing that rituals and laws are more effective when sacralized . Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt cites Sosis's research in his 2012 book The Righteous Mind as the best evidence that religion is an adaptive solution to the free-rider problem by enabling cooperation without kinship . Evolutionary medicine researcher Randolph M. Nesse and theoretical biologist Mary Jane West-Eberhard have argued instead that because humans with altruistic tendencies are preferred as social partners they receive fitness advantages by social selection , with Nesse arguing further that social selection enabled humans as
12880-428: The material, the formal, the efficient, and the final") but he adapted these terms and rejected one of the three: But of these the final cause rather corrupts than advances the sciences, except such as have to do with human action. The discovery of the formal is despaired of. The efficient and the material (as they are investigated and received, that is, as remote causes, without reference to the latent process leading to
13020-492: The meaning of "the image of God", but scholars find suggestions. One is that being created in the image of God distinguishes human nature from that of the beasts. Another is that as God is "able to make decisions and rule" so humans made in God's image are "able to make decisions and rule". A third is that humankind possesses an inherent ability "to set goals" and move toward them. That God denoted creation as "good" suggests that Adam
13160-727: The moral nature of man is found in all religions." Augustine of Hippo coined a term for the assessment that all humans are born sinful: original sin . Original sin is "the tendency to sin innate in all human beings". The doctrine of original sin is held by the Catholic Church and most mainstream Protestant denominations, but rejected by the Eastern Orthodox Church , which holds the similar doctrine of ancestral fault . "The corruption of original sin extends to every aspect of human nature": to "reason and will" as well as to "appetites and impulses". This condition
13300-428: The most famous and influential statements about human nature. In his works, apart from using a similar scheme of a divided human soul, some clear statements about human nature are made: For Aristotle, reason is not only what is most special about humanity compared to other animals, but it is also what we were meant to achieve at our best. Much of Aristotle's description of human nature is still influential today. However,
13440-585: The myth does not take place towards the remote past but either towards the future or towards distant and fictional places, imagining that at some time in the future, at some point in space, or beyond death, there must exist the possibility of living happily. In the United States and Europe, during the Second Great Awakening (ca. 1790–1840) and thereafter, many radical religious groups formed utopian societies in which faith could govern all aspects of members' lives. These utopian societies included
13580-565: The mythological tradition (the poem Works and Days ), explained that, prior to the present era , there were four other progressively less perfect ones, the oldest of which was the Golden Age . Perhaps the oldest Utopia of which we know, as pointed out many years ago by Moses Finley , is Homer 's Scheria , island of the Phaeacians . A mythical place, often equated with classical Corcyra , (modern Corfu / Kerkyra ), where Odysseus
13720-501: The need to improve. Eventually, the Chinese term Peach Blossom Spring came to be synonymous for the concept of utopia. Datong ( Chinese : 大同 ; pinyin : dàtóng ) is a traditional Chinese Utopia. The main description of it is found in the Chinese Classic of Rites , in the chapter called "Li Yun"( Chinese : 禮運 ; pinyin : Lǐ yùn ). Later, Datong and its ideal of 'The World Belongs to Everyone/The World
13860-522: The norms are publicly and impartially enforced. Medieval conceptions of man were particularly stimulated by two sources, viz. the Bible and the Classical philosophical tradition. In Scripture, two passages especially provided the foundation of a dynamic anthropology: Gen 1, 26 and Wis 2, 23 where it is said that man was created in the “image of God”. No theologian could dispense with a reflection on
14000-484: The origins of human nature and its underlying mechanisms, or to demonstrate capacities for change and diversity which would arguably violate the concept of a fixed human nature. Philosophy in classical Greece is the ultimate origin of the Western conception of the nature of things. According to Aristotle , the philosophical study of human nature itself originated with Socrates , who turned philosophy from study of
14140-461: The particular teleological idea that humans are "meant" or intended to be something has become much less popular in modern times . For the Socratics, human nature, and all natures, are metaphysical concepts. Aristotle developed the standard presentation of this approach with his theory of four causes , whereby every living thing exhibits four aspects, or "causes:" For example, an oak tree
14280-424: The possibility that people can overcome their selfishness and considers the possibility that people can be driven by moral commitment to be exceptionally rare. Legalists do not see the individual morality of both the rulers or the ruled as an important concern in a political system. Instead, Legalist thinkers such as Han Fei emphasize clear and impersonal norms and standards (such as laws, regulations, and rules) as
14420-420: The precise control of motivation, mood, well-being and personality. Human nature Human nature comprises the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking , feeling , and acting —that humans are said to have naturally . The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind , or what it ' means ' to be human. This usage has proven to be controversial in that there
14560-569: The public good, may be inconceivable because of the disordered human passions which, under the wrong governments, seek to highlight the poorly conceived or selfish interest of the community. But even though we find it impossible, they are ridiculous to sinful people whose sense of self-destruction prevents them from believing. Marx and Engels used the word "utopia" to denote unscientific social theories. Philosopher Slavoj Žižek told about utopia: Which means that we should reinvent utopia but in what sense. There are two false meanings of utopia one
14700-485: The public imagination and catapulted Bellamy to literary fame. Its publisher could scarcely keep up with demand. Within a year it had sold some 200,000 copies, and by the end of the 19th century had sold more copies than any other book published in America up to that time except for Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace . The book gained an extensive readership in
14840-505: The question of feminism , dealing with the taboo subject of female reproductive rights in a future, post-revolutionary America. Other subjects overlooked in Looking Backward, such as animal rights and wilderness preservation , were dealt with in a similar context. The book saw print in 1897 and would prove to be Bellamy's final creation. Several short stories of Bellamy's were published in 1898, and The Duke of Stockbridge;
14980-597: The religion-based Twelve Tribes , which started in the United States in 1972. Since its inception, it has grown into many groups around the world. Similarly, a commune called Brook Farm established itself in 1841. Founded by Charles Fourier's visions of Utopia, they attempted to recreate his idea of a central building in society called the Phalanx. Unfortunately, this commune could not sustain itself and failed after only six years of operation. They wanted to stay open for longer, but they could not afford it. Their goal, however,
15120-428: The right nurturing conditions give human beings guidance as to the proper emphasis to be given to the desires of the senses." Xunzi understands human nature as the basic faculties, capacities, and desires that people have from birth. He views it as the animalistic instincts exhibited by humans before education, which includes greed, idleness, and desires. He suggests that people can not get rid of these instincts, so
15260-474: The same name. Readers, including Utopian socialists, have chosen to accept this imaginary society as the realistic blueprint for a working nation, while others have postulated that Thomas More intended nothing of the sort. It is believed that More's Utopia functions only on the level of a satire, a work intended to reveal more about the England of his time than about an idealistic society. This interpretation
15400-492: The similarity of the word to eutopia , meaning "good place", from Greek : εὖ ("good" or "well") and τόπος ("place"), which ostensibly would be the more appropriate term for the concept in modern English. The pronunciations of eutopia and utopia in English are identical , which may have given rise to the change in meaning. Dystopia , a term meaning "bad place" coined in 1868, draws on this latter meaning. The opposite of
15540-464: The socialists, yet the word socialist is one I never could well stomach. In the first place it is a foreign word in itself, and equally foreign in all its suggestions. It smells to the average American of petroleum, suggests the red flag, and with all manner of sexual novelties, and an abusive tone about God and religion, which in this country we at least treat with respect. [...] [W]hatever German and French reformers may choose to call themselves, socialist
15680-466: The soul are home to desires or passions similar to those found in animals. In both Aristotle and Plato's ideas, spiritedness ( thumos ) is distinguished from the other passions ( epithūmíā ). The proper function of the "rational" was to rule the other parts of the soul, helped by spiritedness. By this account, using one's reason is the best way to live, and philosophers are the highest types of humans. Aristotle—Plato's most famous student—made some of
15820-400: The soul is capable of existing without the body: “Hence the intellectual principle, in other words the spirit, the intellect, possesses by itself an activity in which the body has no part. Now nothing can act by itself that does not exist by itself. … It remains that the human soul, i.e. the intellect, the spirit, is an incorporeal and subsistent reality” ( Summa theologiae I a, q. 75, a. 2). By
15960-626: The staff of the New York Post before returning to his native Massachusetts to take a position at the Springfield Union . At the age of 25, Bellamy developed tuberculosis , the disease that would ultimately kill him. He suffered with its effects throughout his adult life. In an effort to regain his health, Bellamy spent a year in the Hawaiian Islands (1877 to 1878). Returning to the United States, he decided to abandon
16100-412: 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. Mariah Utsawa 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
16240-533: The subject of several poems, one of which, an early translation of a 13th-century French work, is given in George Ellis' Specimens of Early English Poets . In this, "the houses were made of barley sugar and cakes, the streets were paved with pastry and the shops supplied goods for nothing." London has been so called (see Cockney ) but Boileau applies the same to Paris. Schlaraffenland is an analogous German tradition. All these myths also express some hope that
16380-437: The subsequent events narrated. On the other hand, while supporting a continuity in the Bible about the absence of preternatural gifts ( Latin : dona praeternaturalia ) with regard to the ophitic event , Haag never makes any reference to the discontinuity of the loss of access to the tree of life. The Land of Cockaigne (also Cockaygne, Cokaygne), was an imaginary land of idleness and luxury, famous in medieval stories and
16520-439: The text depicts Heaven on Earth or a Heaven brought to Earth without sin . Daily and mundane details of this new Earth, where God and Jesus rule, remain unclear, although it is implied to be similar to the biblical Garden of Eden. Some theological philosophers believe that heaven will not be a physical realm but instead an incorporeal place for souls . The Greek poet Hesiod , around the 8th century BC, in his compilation of
16660-424: The theory of innate evil advocated by Xunzi . Mencius argues that human nature is good. He understands human nature as the innate tendency to an ideal state that's expected to be formed under the right conditions. Therefore, humans have the capacity to be good, even though they are not all good. According to Mencian theory, human nature contains four beginnings ( 端 ; duan ) of morality . It consists of
16800-560: The top of the World Happiness Report , are sometimes cited as modern utopias, although British author Michael Booth has called that a myth and wrote a 2014 book about the Nordic countries . Particularly in the early 19th century, several utopian ideas arose, often in response to the belief that social disruption was created and caused by the development of commercialism and capitalism . These ideas are often grouped in
16940-606: 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 socialism which he described as "utopian". (For more information, see the History of Socialism article.) In a materialist utopian society, the economy is perfect; there is no inflation and only perfect social and financial equality exists. Edward Gibbon Wakefield 's utopian theorizing on systematic colonial settlement policy in
17080-445: The traits and habits acquired through conscious actions, which he calls artifice ( 偽 ; wei ). Therefore, morality is seen as a human artifice but not as a part of human nature. His claim that human nature is bad, according to Ivanhoe (1994), means that humans do not have a conception of morality and therefore must acquire it through learning, lest destructive and alienating competition inevitably arises from human desire. Legalism
17220-483: The various Nationalist Clubs and the emerging People's Party . For the next three and a half years, Bellamy gave his all to politics, publishing his magazine, working to influence the platform of the People's Party, and publicizing the Nationalist movement in the popular press. This phase of his life came to an end in 1894, when The New Nation was forced to suspend publication owing to financial difficulties. With
17360-536: The world organized and built intentional communities with the hope of developing a better way of living together. Many of these intentional communities are relatively small. Many intentional communities have a population close to 100, with many possibly exceeding this number. While this may seem large, it is pretty small in comparison to the rest of society. From the small populations, it is apparent that people do not prefer this kind of living . While many of these new small communities failed, some continue to grow, such as
17500-511: The world. Anthropologist Richard Sosis examined 200 communes in the 19th-century United States, both religious and secular (mostly utopian socialist ). 39 percent of the religious communes were still functioning 20 years after their founding while only 6 percent of the secular communes were. The number of costly sacrifices that a religious commune demanded from its members had a linear effect on its longevity, while in secular communes demands for costly sacrifices did not correlate with longevity and
17640-419: The year 2000, there was no longer war, poverty, crime, prostitution, corruption, money, or taxes . Neither did there exist such occupations seen by Bellamy as of dubious worth to society, such as politicians, lawyers, merchants, or soldiers. Instead, Bellamy's utopian society of the future was based upon the voluntary employment of all citizens between the ages of 21 and 45, after which time all would retire. Work
17780-402: Was "created in the image of God, in righteousness". Adam was created with ability to make "right choices", but also with the ability to choose sin, by which he fell from righteousness into a state of "sin and depravity". Thus, according to the Bible, "humankind is not as God created it." By Adam 's fall into sin, "human nature" became "corrupt", although it retains the image of God . Both
17920-737: Was a Christian theosophy and pietist group founded in Iptingen , Germany , in 1785. Due to religious persecution by the Lutheran Church and the government in Württemberg , the society moved to the United States on October 7, 1803, settling in Pennsylvania . On February 15, 1805, about 400 followers formally organized the Harmony Society, placing all their goods in common . The group lasted until 1905, making it one of
18060-411: Was also constitutive of humanity. It is proper to man, said Thomas Aquinas, to use words to express his thoughts: “It is true that the other animals communicate their passions, roughly, as the dog expresses his anger by barking … Hence, man is much more communicative towards others than any animal whatever that we see living gregariously, like the crane, the ant or the bee” ( De regno , ch. 1). The theme of
18200-430: Was brilliantly defended by Bonaventure stated that man was composed of two substances, the soul being joined to the body “as mover”. It is patent that the postulate of ontological autonomy of the soul, supposed in this position, accords easily with the religious belief in the immortality of the soul . The Aristotelian doctrine of the soul as “act of the organic body” and hence as the form of the body seemed to pose more of
18340-606: Was coined in 1516 from Ancient Greek by the Englishman Sir Thomas More for his Latin text Utopia . It literally translates as "no place", coming from the Greek : οὐ ("not") and τόπος ("place"), and meant any non-existent society, when 'described in considerable detail'. However, in standard usage, the word's meaning has shifted and now usually describes a non-existent society that is intended to be viewed as considerably better than contemporary society. In his original work, More carefully pointed out
18480-422: Was created a "living soul", meaning a "living person". According to Genesis 1 :27, this living person was made in the " image of God ". From the biblical perspective, "to be human is to bear the image of God." "Two main modes of conceiving human nature—the one of which is spiritual, Biblical, and theistic," and the other "natural, cosmical, and anti-theistic." — John Tulloch Genesis does not elaborate
18620-493: Was one of the most commercially successful books published in the United States in the 19th century, and it especially appealed to a generation of intellectuals alienated from the alleged dark side of the Gilded Age . In the early 1890s, Bellamy established a newspaper known as The New Nation and began to promote united action between the various Nationalist Clubs and the emerging Populist Party . He published Equality ,
18760-544: Was originally started by the group. Other examples are Fountain Grove (founded in 1875), Riker's Holy City and other Californian utopian colonies between 1855 and 1955 (Hine), as well as Sointula in British Columbia , Canada. The Amish and Hutterites can also be considered an attempt towards religious utopia. A wide variety of intentional communities with some type of faith-based ideas have also started across
18900-606: Was prohibited; the plan was an early step toward the yeoman republic later envisioned by Thomas Jefferson . The communes of the 1960s in the United States often represented an attempt to greatly improve the way humans live together in communities. The back-to-the-land movements and hippies inspired many to try to live in peace and harmony on farms or in remote areas and to set up new types of governance. Communes like Kaliflower , which existed between 1967 and 1973, attempted to live outside of society's norms and to create their own ideal communalist society. People all over
19040-516: Was simple, aided by machine production, working hours short and vacation time long. The new economic basis of society effectively remade human nature itself in Bellamy's idyllic vision, with greed, maliciousness, untruthfulness, and insanity all relegated to the past. Bellamy's book inspired legions of readers to establish so-called Nationalist Clubs , beginning in Boston late in 1888. His vision of
19180-499: Was the dominant surviving influence in philosophical discussion in the Middle Ages , amongst Islamic , Christian , and Jewish philosophers . The human soul in the works of Plato and Aristotle has a nature that is divided in a specifically human way. One part is specifically human and rational, being further divided into (1) a part which is rational on its own; and (2) a spirited part which can understand reason. Other parts of
19320-414: Was there any need for hard and painful work. Humans were simple and pious and felt themselves close to their God or gods. According to one anthropological theory, hunter-gatherers were the original affluent society . These mythical or religious archetypes are inscribed in many cultures and resurge with special vitality when people are in difficult and critical times. However, in utopias, the projection of
19460-503: Was very similar to that of Utopia: to lead a more wholesome and simpler life than the atmosphere of pressure surrounding society at the time. It is clear that despite ambition, it is difficult for communes to stay in operation for very long. Though Francis Bacon 's New Atlantis is imbued with a scientific spirit, scientific and technological utopias tend to be based in the future, when it is believed that advanced science and technology will allow utopian living standards ; for example,
19600-513: Was washed ashore after 10 years of storm-tossed wandering and escorted to the King's palace by his daughter Nausicaa . With stout walls, a stone temple and good harbours, it is perhaps the 'ideal' Greek colony , a model for those founded from the middle of the 8th Century onward. A land of plenty, home to expert mariners (with the self-navigating ships), and skilled craftswomen who live in peace under their king's rule and fear no strangers. Plutarch ,
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