Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Like Plato, More retains the belief in One God in his concept of the perfect society by injecting the foundation of Neoplatonism and blending it with a rather festive or carnival-like quality (Marius 1995 as qtd in SparkNotes 2010). Utopians enjoy the good life at the expense of firmly rooted institutions and established order in society. People turn their freedom around and upside down. Ranks, norms, prohibitions, private property and morals are suspended. Critics see the Utopian society as opposing what has been made complete and immortal for ages (SparkNotes).
Conclusion
Both Plato and Thomas More, in their respective works, aim at the perfect or ideal society but in different perspectives under the 5 sub-themes. Plato builds his society on justice and harmony in a way that balances the internal and the external conditions of a person. He assumes that true justice already exists in every man and that every man desires it. His Republic is headed by philosopher-kings, reared and trained from childhood. He believes that a just society can exist only according to the principles of justice already enshrined in the heart of a philosopher-king. Thomas More, on the other hand, builds his perfect society on rational thought, communal property, optimum productivity and the abolition of individuality and authority. He believes in the primacy of good, which equates with the good and pleasant life and benevolence itself. There are no classes of people in the Utopia. They feel no greed for wealth. There is no poverty in this society and only a minimum of crime and immorality. The people sacrifice all external forms of order for a life of unbounded pleasure and license.
In the Republic, guardians are carefully chosen from and adequately prepared for from childhood. From the three ranks come the soldiers, the military arm of the State. In contrast, there is no authority in the Utopia. It goes by public censure and punishment. Slavery and being treated as an animal are extreme punishments for offenders and it is imposed by society as a whole.
Citizenships in the Republic falls under distinct classes, according to what the people contribute...
Children are brought up and trained stringently to become upright citizens and deserving guardians in the future. The thrust is political. Thomas More assumes Plato's strict methods in guiding children for the future of Utopian society. Its thrust, however, tends more towards social structures in effecting reform.
Education is a very serious business to the Republic. It trains potential guardians according to a strict curriculum, which balances physical, mental and aesthetic development. It turns over the training from the parents to the State. On the other hand, violations of social norms are punished with censure and a bad reputation in parents for not taming their children's sensual appetite.
The Republic serves the Good as the goal of education rather than a personal God and Savior. However, it sets the acquaintanceship with the form of that Good as standard and a representation of a personal God. Utopia, on the other hand, claims to draw its concept from one God. It chooses the pleasurable life at the expense of external social institutions that keep excesses in check. Critics view Utopian society as opposing long-held social beliefs and institutions.
Both concepts of a perfect or ideal society assume that pure goodness already exists within man and that all men pursue it. Plato's Republic is at the mercy of the personalities who raise and train future leaders, no matter how strictly. And More's Utopia is getting nowhere near the ideal by not imposing reason and laws. #
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Book Notes. The Republic by Plato. Book Rags, Inc., 2004. Retrieved on November 28,
2010 from http://www.bookrags.com/notes/rep/SUM.htm
Kemerling, Garth. Plato: Education and the Value of Justice. Philosophy Pages, 2001.
Retrieved on November 27, 2010 from http://www.philosophypages/hy/2h.htm
-. Plato: the State and the Soul.
http://www.philosophypages.com/hq/2g.
SparkNotes. Utopia by St. Thomas More. SparkNotes, LLC. Barnes & Noble Network,
2010. Retrieved on November 27, 2010 from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/utopia
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Book Notes. The Republic by Plato. Book Rags, Inc., 2004. Retrieved on November 28,
2010 from http://www.bookrags.com/notes/rep/SUM.htm
Kemerling, Garth. Plato: Education and the Value of Justice. Philosophy Pages, 2001.
Retrieved on November 27, 2010 from http://www.philosophypages/hy/2h.htm
http://www.philosophypages.com/hq/2g.
2010. Retrieved on November 27, 2010 from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/utopia
" In other words to understand any writer's utopian vision, one must compare and contrast that particular vision to what utopian authors in the classic traditions have already put forward. DEFINITIONS of UTOPIA: J.H. "JACK" HEXTER: Historian, professor and humorist Jack Hexter wrote that "Utopia implies that the nature of man is such that to rely on individual conscience to supply the deficiencies of municipal law is to embark on the bottom-less
Juliet knows there is no hope of reasoning with her father. Capulet's treatment of his daughter is symptomatic of his general lack of respect for women -- he tells the nurse to "Utter your gravity o'er a gossip's bowl" and will not listen to his wife when she tells him he is too 'hot' in his reproaches of his daughter (III.5). His attitude is why Juliet lies to him
Specifically, Caesar masterfully showed how through building alliances one may achieve power and rise to the top of the leadership tier even in a group or society as vast as the Ancient Roman Empire (Abbott, 1901, p.385). The Roman Empire also provides an example of organizational systems within the public domain through the Republican system. In the Roman Republican system of government, one man did not have the power to
Political Legitimacy and the Nature of Authority Throughout History From the origins of civilization to the middle of the seventeenth century, the nature of authority does change -- but it typically changes according to the demands of the individual society. In ancient times, authority is based on a number of factors, such as military might (in Rome, Greece, Persia); but religious beliefs also play a part (the Greeks were very devoted
belief -- or idealism -- and the way humans must evolve through a process to become actualized. In essence, we are presented with a dark cave in which there are prisoners who have been chained since birth so they can look only forward. Behind these unfortunates is a fire, the only light in their universe. Behind the fire are people manipulating puppets so that shadows are cast on the
St. Augustine, "Even those with a just grievance cannot go to war out of hatred or thirst for vengeance." The war in Iraq fails to meet this reasonable criterion and is therefore not a "just war." While the typical excuse for the invasion of Iraq hones on the presence of weapons of mass destruction, the main motivation for military action in the Middle East had much to do with