What's Perfect? You Decide

'The land is so well distributed that each city has at least twenty miles of it on every side, and on some sides more, where the towns are farther apart...A Phylarch rules over every thirty houses." (Pg. 59)

"Besides agriculture, which as I said is common to all, each person is taught some craft...everyone, man and woman alike, learns one of these crafts." (Pg. 64)

Based on More's recounts, Utopia might look similar to a mandala geographically and systematically. The towns and the people are virtually identical and everything centers around one common core: agriculture, just like a mandala is symmetrical from any degree and has a common center. From there, variation exists in craft, which is organized by category and interconnected with other, larger factors of the whole, and the whole pattern blooms outward. Everything is connected, communal, and equal. This kind of Utopia looks perfect.

Of course, perfection doesn't always look the same...

If more than one "perfect mandala" can be drawn, who's to say we can't create more than one "perfect society?" The only reason we disagree over what's perfect and what's not is because variation is a fundamental part of human nature, and rightfully so. More's Utopia doesn't try to eliminate variation, it just equalizes it. Other "perfect societies" could equalize things differently and still look perfect. I wonder - could Utopia look imperfect?

We have to understand that perfection is actually vague and left open to interpretation for each individual person, so perfection can even look like imperfection to you, me, and everyone else all at once. In the context of societies, maybe variation doesn't have to be categorized and equalized at all. Maybe it could be left alone and emphasized.

I don't know what my Utopia would look like, but I know the distinction between Utopia and Dystopia is one and the same with the distinction between perfection and imperfection: vague and left open for interpretation for each individual person. It's interesting to see what people believe is perfect or not and how well that translates into reality.

Utopia. Thomas More.

They Cheated? Off With Their Head!

Okay, so here's the thing: Utopia is just straight-up weird. I mean, it's kind of cool but it's just very, very different. The people there seem cool as hell, and it would probably be a pretty interesting place to live, considering the short work days and emphasis on staying in shape.

The thing that I found the most interesting would probably be the fact that the Utopians execute those who have cheated twice. In some cases, I think that would be a little excessive, but at the same time, giving someone that grace period in the beginning and chalking it all up to a mistake would probably be the best way to make them understand that what they did was wrong. I almost agree with killing them on the second offense... Almost.

Anyway, there are some other interesting aspects of Utopia as well, like the fact that they really don't fight unless provoked and hate war altogether. Their society seems to work so well that maybe we should rip a page from their book... But of course I'm sure we'd find a way to screw up that way of life as well. 

I Wonder If Utopia Has a National Anthem...

Utopia seems like a great and ideal society, however I do not think all of their ideas are for me. In addition to that, it makes me wonder how much country pride they have. Are they as proud to be from Utopia as we are to be Americans?



I personally do not want to have all of my days and activities planned for me (although I like the idea of scheduled naps because sleep is a beautiful thing). Sometimes a little spontaneity is fun and a good thing in my mind!





In regard to work, I'm not sure how they managed to get people to work for the same amount. That might work for them, but I don't think it'll work as well in many other places. I will say, though, that a 6 hour work day sounds amazing! The reason I'm not sure this society will always work is because it reminds of a communist society. Yes, I know it works, but I also know that many people dislike it and flee to other countries because of it. People need incentive to work and improve. That's not going to work as well if everyone is getting paid the same amount for different (and possibly more difficult) jobs.





Side note: It also makes me think about the society in The Giver because everything was planned out for them too.

Welcome to Utopia!!!

Utopia seems like it would be a pretty cool place to live in moderation, like for six months at a time then go somewhere else for the next six months. It is a medium sized society which is good because you do not have too many or not enough cities to govern. Everything is so organized and on a schedule. The cities are distributed evenly and have the same amount of land all around. Your nap times are even scheduled!

The idea that everything is pre-planned doesn’t really sit well with me. It seems like a great idea in theory. It allows everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing and aren’t just wasting time doing meaningless things. However I think it would be different when it’s actually applied in society. Having everything pre-planned seems like it would make everything mundane and boring.

When everything is planned there aren’t any surprises or spontaneity. A life without surprises or something different every once in a while seems weird. Maybe it works for the Utopians but I'm not sure if I'm sold on the idea yet.

The workload isn’t bad, they only work for 6 hours. which is divided into two parts 3 hours before lunch and 3 hours after lunch. It seems like it is fairly divided among the people and among the genders. Women aren’t given hard laboring work because they aren’t as strong as men. Which that can be taken as a negative or as a positive. On one hand women don’t have to do hard labor and on the other had shouldn’t they be given the opportunity? The short hours of work seems like a good idea. Especially since it allows the people to engage in other activities as long as it doesn’t go against the rules.

 

Utopians and their crazy work ethic

At first glance, (or I guess at first read) Utopia just seems so darn perfect! There are 54 cities, which isn't so many that maintenance of order would be difficult, but also not too few to make the whole land a "small world." And they're all evenly spaced out with equal land on all sides and the whole thing is a freaking island so they don't have to worry about disputes over land borders! (Shout out to Utopus and his ridiculous idea to separate Utopia from the mainland by excavating 15 miles of land all around it.....) Sounds like a great place to live, and I'm sure that it is in theory, especially for the younger generations who didn't have to live through the founding of the rules of the land. Because I can only imagine how much work it took to create such a meticulous society.

Utopia is the mother of all neat freaks! Every part of this society is planned, and every possible problem is already covered with a preplanned solution and every person knows and does their job well. They are so organized in their laboring that they only have to work six hours per day (with a 2 hour nap in between) and they still have an abundance of products.

I think that the near perfection of almost every aspect of this Utopia makes it out to be more of a "no place" than of a "good place". And while I do approve of their form of government in which all officials are elected and all precautions are taken to ensure every decision is just, I don't think that this Utopia is somewhere worth living, except maybe to visit. They lack qualities that make a society lively, like unpredictability. All decisions made by utopians have a predictable outcome and a definite path and the decisions they make are for functionality. Although I do find it kind of comical when that two people who are going to get married see each other naked first so that they definitely know if they're going to be attracted to their spouse, and that they compare this to buying a horse.. there is no end to the practicality.

Utopia seems like a great place in Raphael's eyes, but I'm still not totally sure how I feel about it.