They uphold that man's happiness consists mainly in the good type of pleasure. They derive arguments from religious principles, despite its roughness and strictness. Without these principles, all searches on happiness can only be merely conjectural and defective (Philosophy Basics).
The need for a real-life utopia is more felt today than before. It is a basic ingredient in the fulfillment of human potential in the contemporary environment (Ainsa 1991).
Contemporary historical, political and philosophical views still retain some Utopian dimension or strain. Utopianism may have discredited for some flaws in the past, but it remains indispensable as an alternative model for mapping out the future. An ideal society is always an attempt to invent the future. Utopia differs from ideology in that utopia represents hope in the possible. Ideology reflects the view of people in power. Utopia, on the other and, always subverts existing authority and challenges the ideal it imposes in place of that authority. Poor living conditions, for example, provide the ground for Utopian protests. Utopian thinking has continued to inspire social progress. Many improvements on poor living conditions...
These improvements have been in the form of realistic working hours, gender equality, welfare policies, leisure, alternative energy sources, environmental protection and town planning. Humanists' fascination and preoccupation with the impossible are filling in the gap and helping provide the foundation for turning dreams into reality (Ainsa). Erasmus and More are among those prophets who inputted the very valuable ingredients of universal peace and the primacy of reason for human survival, progress and, ultimately, happiness.#
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ainsa, Fernando. Do We Need Utopia? UNESCO Courier: UNESCO, Feb 1991
Burnet, Gilbert, trans. Thomas More's Utopia -- Moral Philosophy and Religion.
British Library Board: George Routledge & Sons, 1885
Microsoft Encarta. Desiderius Erasmus. Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia:
Microsoft Corporation, 2009. Retrieved on May 30, 2009 from http://encarta.msn.com
Nauert, Charles. Desiderius Erasmus. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Stanford
University, 2008.
Philosophy Basics. Sir…
