Jump to content

Utopia: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
m Reverted edits by 69.63.170.130 (talk) to last revision by IronGargoyle (HG)
Line 3: Line 3:
A '''utopia''' {{IPAc-en|juː|ˈ|t|oʊ|p|i|ə}} is a [[community]] or [[society]] possessing highly desirable or perfect qualities. The word was coined in Greek by [[Sir Thomas More]] for his 1516 book ''[[Utopia (book)|Utopia]]'', describing a fictional [[island]] society in the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. The term has been used to describe both [[intentional community|intentional communities]] that attempt to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in [[utopian and dystopian fiction|literature]]. It has spawned other concepts, most prominently [[dystopia]].
A '''utopia''' {{IPAc-en|juː|ˈ|t|oʊ|p|i|ə}} is a [[community]] or [[society]] possessing highly desirable or perfect qualities. The word was coined in Greek by [[Sir Thomas More]] for his 1516 book ''[[Utopia (book)|Utopia]]'', describing a fictional [[island]] society in the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. The term has been used to describe both [[intentional community|intentional communities]] that attempt to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in [[utopian and dystopian fiction|literature]]. It has spawned other concepts, most prominently [[dystopia]].


GAY WALRUS
==Varieties==
lands, clear ponds, mulberry trees, bamboo groves, and the like with a community of people of all ages and houses in neat rows.<ref name=zh182-3/> The people explained that their ancestors escaped to this place during the civil unrest of the [[Qin Dynasty]] and they themselves had not left since or had contact with anyone from the outside.<ref name=zh183>{{cite book| last=Longxi| first=Zhang| title=Allegoresis: Reading Canonical Literature East and West| year=2005| publisher=Cornell University Press| location=Ithaca| isbn=978-0-8014-4369-5| pages=183}}</ref> They had not even heard of the later dynasties of bygone times or the then-current [[Jin Dynasty (265–420)|Jin Dynasty]]. In the story, the community was secluded and unaffected by the troubles of the outside world.<ref name=zh183/> The sense of timelessness was also predominant in the story as a perfect utopian community remains unchanged, that is, it had no decline nor the need to improve.<ref name=zh183/> Eventually, the Chinese term ''Peach Blossom Spring'' (桃花源) came to be synonymous for the concept of utopia.<ref>{{cite book| last=Gu| first=Ming Dong| title=Chinese Theories of Fiction: A Non-Western Narrative System| year=2006| publisher=State University of New York Press| location=Albany| isbn=978-0-7914-6815-9| page=59}}</ref>
{{refimprove section|date=January 2012}}
[[File:Hieronymus Bosch - The Garden of Earthly Delights - The Earthly Paradise (Garden of Eden).jpg|thumbnail|right|200px|Left panel (The Earthly Paradise – [[Garden of Eden]]) from [[Hieronymus Bosch]]'s ''[[The Garden of Earthly Delights]]''.]]
Chronologically, the first recorded utopian proposal is [[Plato]]'s ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]''.<ref>More, Travis; Rohith Vinod
(1989)</ref> Part conversation, part fictional depiction, and part policy proposal, it proposes a categorization of citizens into a rigid class structure of "golden," "silver," "bronze" and "iron" socioeconomic classes. The golden citizens are trained in a rigorous 50-year long educational program to be benign oligarchs, the "philosopher-kings." 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 is the central notion of the proposal. It has few laws, no [[lawyer]]s and rarely sends its citizens to war, but hires [[mercenary|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).

During the 16th century, Thomas More's book ''[[Utopia (book)|Utopia]]'' proposed an ideal society of the same name. Some {{Who|date=August 2012}} readers, including utopian socialists, have chosen to accept this imaginary society as the realistic blueprint for a working nation, while others have postulated that More intended nothing of the sort. Some{{Who|date=April 2010}} maintain the position 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 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 [[Homophone|homophonic]] prefix eu-, meaning "good," also resonates in the word, with the implication that the perfectly "good place" is really "no place."'''''

===Ecology===
Ecological utopian society describes new ways in which society should relate to nature.
They react to a [[ecotopia|perceived]] widening gap between the modern Western way of living that destroys nature{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} and the traditional way of living{{Clarify|date=June 2011}} that is thought{{Who|date=June 2011}} to be more in harmony with nature. According to the Dutch philosopher Marius de Geus, ecological utopias could be sources of inspiration for green political movements.<ref>Geus, Marius de (1996). Ecologische utopieën- Ecotopia's en het milieudebat. Uitgeverij Jan van Arkel.</ref>

In the novelette ''Rumfuddle'' (1973), [[Jack Vance]] presents a novel twist on the ecological utopia. His hero {{who|date=May 2013}} invents paratime travel and becomes effectively the ruler of earth by giving everyone their own alternate-earth wilderness worlds as vacation retreats/suburbs without neighbors. However, he requires them to work during the week cleaning up the original Earth and restoring its pristineness. A typical job is driving a bulldozer that shoves the detritus of industrial civilization through a portal into the oceans of a paratime garbage world.

===Economics===
Particularly in the early 19th century, several utopian ideas arose, often in response to their belief that social disruption was created and caused by the development of [[commercialism]] and [[capitalism]]. These are often grouped in a greater "[[utopian socialism|utopian socialist]]" movement, due to their shared characteristics: an [[egalitarian]] distribution of goods, frequently with the total abolition of [[money]], and citizens only doing [[labour (economics)|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 socialism he described as utopian. (For more information see the [[History of Socialism]] article.) Also consider [[Eric Frank Russell]]'s book ''[[The Great Explosion]]'' (1963) whose last section details an economic and social utopia. This forms the first mention of the idea of [[Local Exchange Trading Systems]] (LETS). {{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

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 [[individualism|individualistic]] and [[libertarian utopia]], as does [[Ayn Rand]]'s ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]''.<ref>Cf. only ''Atlas Shrugged'', pt. III, ch. 2: "The Utopia of Greed." See also Clardy (2012).</ref> [[Capitalism|Capitalist]] utopias of this sort are generally based on [[free market]] economies, in which the presupposition is that private enterprise and personal initiative without an institution of coercion, [[government]], provides the greatest opportunity for achievement and progress of both the individual and society as a whole.<ref>{{cite web
| last = Folbre
| first = Nancy
| authorlink = http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/business/economy/Folbre.ready.html?_r=1
| coauthors =
| title = Utopian Capitalism
| work = Business Daily
| publisher = New York Times
| date = December 26, 2011
| url = http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/utopian-capitalism/
| format =
| doi =
| accessdate = }}</ref>

Another view that capitalist utopias do not address is the issue of [[market failure]], any more than socialist utopias address the issue of planning failure. Thus a blend of [[socialism]] and [[capitalism]] is seen by some as the type of economy in a utopia. For example, one such idea is to have small, community-owned enterprises working under a market-based model of economy.

===Politics and history===
A global utopia of [[world peace]] is often seen as one of the possible [[end of history (disambiguation)|endings of history]]. Within the localized political structures or spheres it presents, "[[polyculturalism]]" is the model-based adaptation of possible interactions with different cultures and identities in accordance with the principles of participatory society.<ref>{{cite web
| last = Spannos
| first = Chris
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = What is Real Utopia?
| work = Z Magazine
| publisher = [[Z Communications]]
| date = 2008-07-05
| url = http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18100
| format =
| doi =
| accessdate = 2008-09-01 }}</ref>

The Soviet writer [[Ivan Efremov]] produced during the "Thaw" period the science-fiction utopia ''[[Andromeda (novel)|Andromeda]]'' (1957) in which a united humanity communicates with a galaxy-wide Great Circle and develops its technology and culture within a social framework characterized by vigorous competition between alternative philosophies.

The communes of the 1960s in the United States were often 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, remote areas, and to set up new types of governance.

[[Intentional communities]] were organized and built all over the world with the hope of making a more perfect way of living together. However, many of these new small communities failed, but some are growing like the Twelve Tribes Communities that started in the United States and have grown to many tribes around the world.

===Religious utopia===
[[File:New Harmony by F. Bate (View of a Community, as proposed by Robert Owen) printed 1838.jpg|300px|right|thumb|[[New Harmony, Indiana|New Harmony]], a utopian attempt; depicted as proposed by [[Robert Owen]]]]

Religious utopias can be intra-religious or inter-religious.
The inter-religious utopia borders on a concept like [[Polyculturalism]] and is not deemed possible in the near future or the near-far future. Fledgling theories are generally canceled as impossible, but the ideology of God and Religion used in inter-religious utopia is commonly stated by many people as their view of God. In more extended theories it goes up to the level of different religious leaders setting aside their differences and accepting harmony, peace and understanding to unite all religions within one another, thereby forming a utopian religion or a religion of Humans with God any type of force that reigned before the birth of the [[universe]]. Religion and God being used as a self-motivating factor for people to believe in and raise themselves out of difficult situations.

Intra-Religious utopias are based on [[religion|religious]] ideals, and are to date those most commonly found in human society. Their members are usually required to follow and believe in the particular religious tradition that established the utopia. Some permit non-believers or non-adherents to take up residence within them; others (such as the Community at [[Qumran]]) do not.

The [[Islam]]ic, [[Judaism|Jewish]], and [[Christianity|Christian]] ideas of the [[Garden of Eden]] and [[Heaven]] may be interpreted as forms of [[utopianism]], especially in their [[folk religion|folk-religious]] forms. Such religious utopias are often described as "gardens of delight", implying an existence free from worry in a state of bliss or enlightenment. They postulate freedom from sin, pain, poverty, and death, and often assume communion with beings such as [[angel]]s or the [[houri]]. In a similar sense the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] concept of [[Moksha]] and the [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] concept of [[Nirvana (concept)|Nirvana]] may be thought of as a kind of utopia. In Hinduism or Buddhism, however, Utopia is not a place but a state of mind. A belief that if we are able to practice meditation without continuous stream of thoughts, we are able to reach enlightenment. This enlightenment promises exit from the cycle of life and death, relating back to the concept of utopia.

In the United States and Europe during the [[Second Great Awakening]] of the 19th century and thereafter, many radical religious groups formed utopian societies in which all aspects of people's lives could be governed by their faith. Among the best-known of these utopian societies were the [[Shakers]], which originated in England in the 18th century but moved to America shortly afterward. A number of religious utopian societies from Europe came to the United States from the 18th century throughout the 19th century, including the Society of the Woman in the Wilderness (led by [[Johannes Kelpius]]), the [[Ephrata Cloister]], and the [[Harmony Society]], among others. The [[Harmony Society]] was a [[Christian theosophy]] and [[Pietism|pietist]] group founded in [[Iptingen]], [[Germany]], in 1785. Due to religious persecution by the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran Church]] and the government in [[Württemberg]],<ref name="Sutton1">Robert Paul Sutton, ''Communal Utopias and the American Experience: Religious Communities'' (2003) p. 38</ref> the society moved to the United States on October 7, 1803, settled in [[Pennsylvania]], and on February 15, 1805, they, together with about 400 followers, formally organized the Harmony Society, placing all their goods in [[Commune (intentional community)|common]]. The group lasted until 1905, making it one of 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 is 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, was originally started by the group. Other examples are [[Fountain Grove]], Riker's Holy City and other Californian utopian colonies between 1855 and 1955 (Hine), as well as Sointula<ref>{{cite web | title = Finnish Utopian Settlements in North America | author = Teuvo Peltoniemi | url = http://www.sosiomedia.fi/utopia/na_settlements.pdf | publisher = sosiomedia.fi | year = 1984 | accessdate = 2008-10-12}}</ref> in [[British Columbia]], Canada. The Amish and Hutterites can also be considered an attempt towards a better world to live in. A wide variety of intentional communities with some type of faith based ideas have started across the world.

The book of Revelation in the Christian bible depicts a better time, in the future, after Satan and evil are defeated. One interpretation is that there will eventually be heaven on Earth, or a new Earth without sin. The details of this new Earth where God and Jesus rules is not made clear. It can be assumed that it will be something like the Garden of Eden before the fall. Another possibility is that heaven will not be a physical realm, but instead an incorporeal place for souls.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}}

===Science and technology===
[[File:Early flight 02561u (2).jpg|thumb|Utopian flying machines, France, 1890-1900 (chromolithograph [[trading card]]).]]

Scientific and technological utopias 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]]. 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 the static perfection of a utopia, [[libertarian transhumanist]]s envision an "[[extropianism|extropia]]", an open, evolving society allowing individuals and voluntary groupings to form the institutions and social forms they prefer.

Technological utopias can also be the opposite of ecological utopias. Whereas, contrary to ecological utopian fiction, describes technology is a thing that improves rather than destroys humanity

[[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 Banks]]' [[The Culture|Culture]].

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]]. Critics, such as [[Jacques Ellul]] and [[Timothy Mitchell]] advocate [[precautionary principle|precautions]] against the premature embrace of new technologies, raising questions on responsibility and freedom brought by [[division of labour]]. Authors such as [[John Zerzan]] and [[Derrick Jensen]] consider that modern technology is progressively depriving humans of their autonomy, and advocate the collapse of the industrial civilization, in favor of small-scale organization, as a necessary path to avoid the threat of technology on human freedom and [[sustainability]].

There are many examples of techno-dystopias portrayed in mainstream culture, such as the classics ''[[Brave New World]]'' and ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', which have explored some of these topics.

===Feminism===

Utopias have been used to explore the ramifications of gender's being either a societal construct, or a biologically "hard-wired" imperative, or some mix of the two.<ref name=WSEncyc1442>{{cite book |title= Women's Studies Encyclopedia|last=Tierney |first=Helen |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= 1999|publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group|page=1442 |isbn=978-0-313-31073-7}}</ref> Socialist and economic utopias have tended to take the "woman question" seriously, and often to offer some form of equality between the sexes as part and parcel of their vision, whether this be by addressing misogyny, reorganizing society along separatist lines, creating a certain kind of androgynous equality that ignores gender, or in some other manner. For example, [[Edward Bellamy]]'s ''[[Looking Backward]]'' (1887) responded, progressively for his day, to the contemporary women's suffrage and women's rights movements, which he supported, by incorporating the equality of women and men into his utopian world's structure, albeit by consigning women to a separate sphere of light industrial activity (due to women's supposed lesser physical strength), and making various exceptions for them in order to make room (and praise) for motherhood. One of the earlier feminist utopias that imagines complete separatism is Charlotte Perkins Gilman's ''Herland'' (1915). In science fiction and technological speculation, gender can be challenged on the biological as well as the social level. In Marge Piercy's ''Woman on the Edge of Time,'' the utopian future offers equality between the genders and complete equality in sexuality (regardless of the gender of the lovers); birth-giving, often felt as the divider that cannot be avoided in discussions of women's rights and roles, has been shifted onto elaborate biological machinery that functions to offer an enriched embryonic experience; when a child is born, it spends most of its time in the children's ward with peers. Three "mothers" per child are the norm, and they are chosen in a gender neutral way (men as well as women may become "mothers") on the basis of their experience and ability. Technological advances also make possiible the freeing of women from childbearing in Shulamit Firestone's ''The Dialectic of Sex''.The fictional aliens in [[Mary Gentle]]'s ''[[Golden Witchbreed]]'' start out as gender-neutral children and do not develop into men and women until puberty, and gender has no bearing on social roles. In contrast, [[Doris Lessing]]'s ''[[The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five]]'' (1980) suggests that men's and women's values are inherent to the sexes and cannot be changed, making a compromise between them essential. In ''My Own Utopia'' (1961) by [[Elizabeth Mann Borghese]], gender exists but is dependent upon age rather than sex&nbsp;— genderless children mature into women, some of whom eventually become men.<ref name=WSEncyc1442/> "William Marston's Wonder Woman comics of the 1940s featured Paradise Island, a matriarchal all-female community of peace, loving submission, bondage, and giant space kangaroos." <ref>Noah Berlatsky, "Imagine There's No Gender: The Long History of Feminist Utopian Literature," ''The Atlantic,'' April 15, 2013. http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/04/imagine-theres-no-gender-the-long-history-of-feminist-utopian-literature/274993/</ref>

Utopian [[single-gender worlds]] or single-sex societies have long been one of the primary ways to explore implications of gender and gender-differences.<ref name=DGinSF13/> In speculative fiction, female-only worlds have been imagined to come about by the action of disease that wipes out men, along with the development of technological or mystical method that allow female [[parthenogenic]] [[reproduction]]. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1915 novel approaches this type of separate society. Many feminist utopias pondering separatism were written in the 1970s, as a response to the Lesbian separatist movement;<ref name=DGinSF13>Attebery, p. 13.</ref><ref name=erotic1189>[[Gaétan Brulotte]] & John Phillips,''Encyclopedia of Erotic Literature'', "Science Fiction and Fantasy", CRC Press, 2006, p. 1189, ISBN 1-57958-441-1</ref><ref name =Utop101/> examples include [[Joanna Russ]]'s ''[[The Female Man]]'' and [[Suzy McKee Charnas]]'s ''[[Walk to the End of the World]]'' and ''[[Motherlines]]''.<ref name =Utop101>Martha A. Bartter, ''The Utopian Fantastic'', "Momutes", Robin Anne Reid, p.101 ISBN 0-313-31635-X</ref> Utopias imagined by male authors have often included equality between sexes, rather than separation, although as noted Bellamy's strategy includes a certain amount of "separate but equal".<ref name =Utop102>Martha A. Bartter, ''The Utopian Fantastic'', "Momutes", Robin Anne Reid, p. 102 ISBN</ref> The use of female-only worlds allows the exploration of female independence and freedom from [[patriarchy]]. The societies may not necessarily be lesbian, or sexual at all&nbsp;— a famous early sexless example being ''[[Herland (novel)|Herland]]'' (1915) by [[Charlotte Perkins Gilman]].<ref name=erotic1189/> Charlene Ball writes in ''Women's Studies Encyclopedia'' that use of speculative fiction to explore gender roles in future societies has been more common in the United States compared to Europe and elsewhere,<ref name=WSEncyc1442/> although such efforts as Gert Brantenberg's ''Egalia's Daughters'' and Christa Wolf's portrayal of the land of Colchis in her ''Medea: Voices ''are certainly as influential and famous as any of the American feminist utopias.

===Utopianism===
[[File:Goldenes-Zeitalter-1530-2.jpg|thumbnail|right|200px|''The Golden Age'' by Lucas Cranach the Elder.]]
In many cultures, societies, and religions, there 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 [[mythology|myth]]s 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 was there any need for hard and painful work. Humans were simple and [[piety|pious]], and felt themselves close to the 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, the projection of 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 of the future, at some point of the space or beyond the death must exist the possibility of living happily.

These myths of the earliest stage of humankind have been referred to by various cultures, societies, and religions:

'''Golden Age'''
The [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] poet [[Hesiod]], around the 8th century BC, in his compilation of the mythological tradition (the poem ''[[Works and Days]]''), explained that, prior to [[Ages of Man|the present era]], there were other four progressively more perfect ones, the oldest of which was the [[Golden Age]].

[[Plutarch]], the Greek historian and biographer of the 1st century, dealt with the blissful and mythic past of the humanity.

'''[[Arcadia (utopia)|Arcadia]]''', e.g. in [[Sir Philip Sidney]]'s prose romance ''[[Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia|The Old Arcadia]]'' (1580). Originally a region in the [[Peloponnesus]], Arcadia became a [[synonym]] for any rural area that serves as a [[pastoral]] setting, as a ''locus amoenus'' ("delightful place"):

'''The Biblical Garden of Eden'''
The [[Hebrew Bible|Biblical]] [[Garden of Eden]] as depicted in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 2 ([[King James Version of the Bible|Authorized Version of 1611]]):

<blockquote>"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And 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. [...]<br />
<br />
And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And 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. [...]<br />
<br />
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 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."</blockquote>

'''The Land of Cockaigne'''
The Land of [[Cockaigne]] (also Cockaygne, Cokaygne), was <blockquote>an imaginary land of idleness and luxury, famous in medieval story, and the subject of more than one poem, one of which, an early translation of a 13th-century French work, is given in Ellis's ''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#Cockaigne|Cockney]]), but Boileau applies the same to Paris.<ref>Cobham Brewer E. ''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'', Odhams, London, 1932</ref></blockquote>

'''[[The Peach Blossom Spring]]''', a prose written by [[Tao Yuanming]], describes a utopian place.<ref>{{cite book| last=Tian| first=Xiaofei| title=The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature| year=2010| publisher=Cambridge University Press| location=Cambridge| isbn=978-0-521-85558-7| page=221| chapter=From the Eastern Jin through the Early Tang (317–649)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=Berkowitz| first=Alan J.| title=Patterns of Disengagement: the Practice and Portrayal of Reclusion in Early Medieval China| year=2000| publisher=Stanford University Press| location=Stanford| isbn=978-0-8047-3603-9| page=225}}</ref> 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.<ref name=zh182>{{cite book| last=Longxi| first=Zhang| title=Allegoresis: Reading Canonical Literature East and West| year=2005| publisher=Cornell University Press| location=Ithaca| isbn=978-0-8014-4369-5| page=182}}</ref> Entranced by the beauty, he continued upstream.<ref name=zh182/> When he reached the end of the river, he stumbled onto a small grotto.<ref name=zh182/> 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.<ref name=zh182-3>{{cite book| last=Longxi| first=Zhang| title=Allegoresis: Reading Canonical Literature East and West| year=2005| publisher=Cornell University Press| location=Ithaca| isbn=978-0-8014-4369-5| pages=182–183}}</ref> 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.<ref name=zh182-3/> The people explained that their ancestors escaped to this place during the civil unrest of the [[Qin Dynasty]] and they themselves had not left since or had contact with anyone from the outside.<ref name=zh183>{{cite book| last=Longxi| first=Zhang| title=Allegoresis: Reading Canonical Literature East and West| year=2005| publisher=Cornell University Press| location=Ithaca| isbn=978-0-8014-4369-5| pages=183}}</ref> They had not even heard of the later dynasties of bygone times or the then-current [[Jin Dynasty (265–420)|Jin Dynasty]]. In the story, the community was secluded and unaffected by the troubles of the outside world.<ref name=zh183/> The sense of timelessness was also predominant in the story as a perfect utopian community remains unchanged, that is, it had no decline nor the need to improve.<ref name=zh183/> Eventually, the Chinese term ''Peach Blossom Spring'' (桃花源) came to be synonymous for the concept of utopia.<ref>{{cite book| last=Gu| first=Ming Dong| title=Chinese Theories of Fiction: A Non-Western Narrative System| year=2006| publisher=State University of New York Press| location=Albany| isbn=978-0-7914-6815-9| page=59}}</ref>


[[Great Unity|Datong]] is a traditional Chinese Utopia. The main description of it is found in the Chinese [[Classic of Rites]], in the chapter called [[Li Yun]]. Later, Datong and its ideal of 'The World Belongs to Everyone/The World is Held in Common' 'Tianxia weigong/天下为公' 'influenced modern Chinese reformers and revolutionaries, such as [[Kang Youwei]].
[[Great Unity|Datong]] is a traditional Chinese Utopia. The main description of it is found in the Chinese [[Classic of Rites]], in the chapter called [[Li Yun]]. Later, Datong and its ideal of 'The World Belongs to Everyone/The World is Held in Common' 'Tianxia weigong/天下为公' 'influenced modern Chinese reformers and revolutionaries, such as [[Kang Youwei]].

Revision as of 19:39, 7 October 2013

For other uses, see Utopia (disambiguation).

A utopia /juːˈtoʊpiə/ is a community or society possessing highly desirable or perfect qualities. The word was coined in Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island society in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in literature. It has spawned other concepts, most prominently dystopia.

GAY WALRUS lands, clear ponds, mulberry trees, bamboo groves, and the like with a community of people of all ages and houses in neat rows.[1] The people explained that their ancestors escaped to this place during the civil unrest of the Qin Dynasty and they themselves had not left since or had contact with anyone from the outside.[2] 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.[2] The sense of timelessness was also predominant in the story as a perfect utopian community remains unchanged, that is, it had no decline nor the need to improve.[2] Eventually, the Chinese term Peach Blossom Spring (桃花源) came to be synonymous for the concept of utopia.[3]

Datong is a traditional Chinese Utopia. The main description of it is found in the Chinese Classic of Rites, in the chapter called Li Yun. Later, Datong and its ideal of 'The World Belongs to Everyone/The World is Held in Common' 'Tianxia weigong/天下为公' 'influenced modern Chinese reformers and revolutionaries, such as Kang Youwei.

Schlaraffenland is an analogous German tradition. (See in German Wikipedia.)

These myths also express some hope that 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 the Garden of Eden when, towards the end of the 15th century, he first encountered the New World and its indigenous inhabitants.

Etymology

The word utopia was coined in Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island society in the Atlantic Ocean. The word comes from the Greek: οὐ ("not") and τόπος ("place") and means "no place". The English homophone eutopia, derived from the Greek εὖ ("good" or "well") and τόπος ("place"), means "good place". This, because of the identical pronunciation of "utopia" and "eutopia", gives rise to a double meaning.

List of utopian literature

Pre-20th century

A Crystal Age, by W.H. Hudson (1906 edition cover)

20th century and after

  • Datong Shu (1902) by Kang Youwei.
  • A Modern Utopia (1905) by H. G. Wells.
  • A Crystal Age (1906), by W.H. Hudson. First published anonymously, in 1887. An amateur ornithologist and botanist falls down a crevice, and wakes up centuries later, in a world where humans live in families, in harmony with each other and animals; but, where reproduction, emotions, and secondary sexual characteristics are repressed, except for the Alpha males and females; and, the human species is gradually dying out.
  • Men Like Gods (1923) by H. G. Wells, men and women in an alternative universe live without world government in a perfected state of anarchy; "Our education is our government," a Utopian named Lion says;[7] sectarian religion, like politics, has died away, and advanced scientific research flourishes; life is governed by "the Five Principles of Liberty," which are privacy, free movement, unlimited knowledge, truthfulness, and free discussion and criticism.
  • War with the Newts (1936) by Karel Čapek. Válka s mloky in the original Czech, also translated as War with the Salamanders, is a 1936 satirical science fiction novel.
  • For Us, The Living (1938, published in 2003) by Robert A. Heinlein, a futuristic utopian novel explaining practical views on love, freedom, drive, government and economics.
  • Islandia (1942), by Austin Tappan Wright, an imaginary island in the Southern Hemisphere, a utopia containing many Arcadian elements, including a policy of isolation from the outside world and a rejection of industrialism. (In three sequels by Mark Saxton, including The Islar (1969), below.)
  • In the film Road to Utopia (1943), it was suggested (comically) that a personal Utopia could be obtained from the wealth of gold mines in Alaska, USA.
  • Animal Farm (1945), by George Orwell, the novel addresses not only the corruption of the revolution by its leaders but also how wickedness, indifference, ignorance, greed and myopia corrupt the revolution.
  • Walden Two (1948) by B. F. Skinner, a community in which every aspect of living is put to rigorous scientific testing. A professor and his colleagues question the effectiveness of the community started by an eccentric man named T.E. Frazier.
  • Childhood's End (1954) by Arthur C. Clarke, alien beings guide humanity towards a more economically productive and technologically advanced society, allowing humans to broaden their mental capacities.
  • Big Planet (1957), by Jack Vance, depicts a world in which attempts by utopian misfits to set up new societies have gone haywire after many revert to savagery and violence. But one city, Kirstendale, sets up a successful order in which citizens constantly shift their status, titles and duties (from servant to aristocrat and back again) according to an elaborate schedule.
  • Island (1962) by Aldous Huxley follows the story of Will Farnaby, a cynical journalist, who shipwrecks on the fictional island of Pala and experiences their unique culture and traditions which create a utopian society.
  • The Islar (1969), the Islandians develop a modern air force to fend off hostile communist-allied neighbors, and debate whether to join the UN.
  • The Lathe of Heaven (1971), by Ursula K. Le Guin, a man is able to "effectively" dream, changing waking reality. A psychologist to whom he goes for treatment tries to use the man's talent to improve society but finds that each of his "solutions" has disastrous unintended consequences.
  • The Star Trek franchise (1966–present), consisting of numerous TV series, books and feature films, depicts a golden age for humanity, in which humans have used technology to largely eliminate poverty, hunger, and disease, as well achieving unprecedented social progress - upholding tolerance as a core virtue in their relations to neighbouring alien cultures. This golden age begins in 2063 after scientists develop faster-than-light travel and culminates in the late 24th century.[8] The franchise also explores alternate timelines, some dystopian.[9]
  • The Dispossessed (1974), by Ursula K. Le Guin, the story of two planets, one very much like the capitalist, materialistic, profligate United States and the other a "nonpropertarian", anarchist society in which private ownership is unknown and people merely use as much natural resources or finished goods as they need. The two worlds are walled off (as were the capitalist and Communist world at the time of its writing). A physicist named Shevek travels between the two worlds and compares them in a literary structure much like that of Tolstoy's War and Peace.
  • Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston (1975) by Ernest Callenbach, ecological utopia in which the Pacific Northwest has seceded from the union to set up a new society.
  • Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) by Marge Piercy, the story of a middle-aged Hispanic woman who has visions of two alternative futures, one utopian and the other dystopian.
  • The Probability Broach (1980), by L. Neil Smith, presents both utopian and dystopian views of present day North America, through alternative outcomes of the American War for Independence.
  • Always Coming Home (1985), by Ursula K. Le Guin, a combination of fiction and fictional anthropology about a society in California in the distant future.
  • The Fifth Sacred Thing (1993), by Starhawk, a post-apocalyptic novel depicting two societies, one a sustainable economy based on social justice, and its neighbor, a militaristic and intolerant theocracy.
  • Aria (2001-2008), by Kozue Amano, is a manga and anime series set on terraformed version of the planet Mars in the 24th century. The main character, Akari, is a trainee gondolier working in the city of Neo-Venezia, based on modern day Venice.
  • Blind Faith (2007) by Ben Elton, is an English dystopian novel. The story takes place in London approximately 50 years after many parts of the Earth have been subjected to rising water due to global warming. The remaining population believes that "only perverts do things in private", and obsessively blogs and uploads their lives in a sort of voluntary panopticon society. A wholesale rejection of science has taken place, and religious faith is compulsory under new "Wembley Laws".

Notes

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference zh182-3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Longxi, Zhang (2005). Allegoresis: Reading Canonical Literature East and West. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-8014-4369-5.
  3. ^ Gu, Ming Dong (2006). Chinese Theories of Fiction: A Non-Western Narrative System. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-7914-6815-9.
  4. ^ David Winston. Iambulus’ Islands of the Sun and Hellenistic Literary Utopias, in: Science Fiction Studies #10 = Volume 3, Part 3 = November 1976
  5. ^ Morris, William (2006) [1903]. The Earthly Paradise. Obscure Press. ISBN 1-84664-523-9.
  6. ^ Gates, Barbara T. (ed.), In Nature's Name: An Anthology of Women's Writing and Illustration, 1780-1930 University of Chicago Press, 2002
  7. ^ H. G. Wells, Men Like Gods, Book I, Ch. 5, Sect. 6.
  8. ^ See for example Star Trek: The Next Generation.
  9. ^ See for example In a Mirror, Darkly.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Utopia.
Wikisource has the text of the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article Utopia.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Utopia&oldid=576185362"