23 Thomas More : Utopia

Dr Madhumita Majumdar

Utopia – Shaping the Commonwealth

In this module, we will deal with Thomas More’s Utopia. The contents of the module will include a)short biography of More b) the agenda or intention of the book and when publishing history of the book c) the contents of Book I and II of Utopiad) Narrative technique e) critics take on Utopia. Our discussions will veer around the mentioned areas above.

A Short Biography

Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), the noted Renaissance humanist was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman. An important councilor to Henry VIII and Lord Chancellor from October 1529 to 16 May 1532, he had among Erasmus’s key collaborators in England along with John Colet (1467-1519). They were the nucleus of a small group of classically educated scholars, formed during the reign of Henry VII, who dedicated themselves to ushering in an age where society would be governed by reason. He was the man who best carried forward the efforts launched by Henry VII to establish a true nation-state. Thomas More’s most famous work, Utopia, advocated the radical thought that the position of king should be an elective office. Utopia remains till date one of the best books written on constitutional law. He sought to further the much more long-term process of creating a citizenry capable of establishing a republic.

November, 2000 Nov. 4, 2000, Pope John Paul II issued an Apostolic Letter proclaiming St. Thomas More as “Patron of Statesmen and Politicians”.

---

John Paul II says of More in his Apostolic Letter: “In this context, it is helpful to turn to the example of Saint Thomas More, who distinguished himself by his constant fidelity to legitimate authority and institutions precisely in his intention to serve not power but the supreme ideal of justice. His life teaches us that government is above all an exercise of virtue. Unwavering in this rigorous moral stance, this English statesman placed his own public activity at the service of the person, especially if that person was weak or poor; he dealt with social controversies with a superb sense of fairness; he was vigorously committed to favoring and defending the family; he supported the all-round education of the young. His profound detachment from honors and wealth, his serene and joyful humility, his balanced knowledge of human nature and of the vanity of success, his certainty of judgment rooted in faith: these all gave him that confident inner strength that sustained him in adversity and in the face of death. His sanctity shone forth in his martyrdom, but it had been prepared by an entire life of work devoted to God and neighbor.”

Erasmus, Thomas More and John Colet were three pillars of Renaissance Humanist education.

What is More’s most prominent agenda in Utopia? More was insistent and developed the idea that government must promote the General Welfare of all of its citizens.

To achieve this goal would require that all the citizens be good

More wrote Utopia in the form of a dialogue between himself and a fictional character, named Raphael Hythoday, who More states had sailed, both geographically and intellectually, “as Ulysses and Plato.” More says that Raphael was well versed in philosophy, “learning Greek, since the Romans left us nothing that is valuable except Seneca and Cicero.” It is Raphael who describes to More the imaginary land of Utopia, the said land had achieved a far higher level of civilization than contemporary Europe.Raphael speaks of the current practices of government and says that a counselor who advised a king to see himself as the guardian of his people was in all likelihood to be rejected by the king in favour of other advisors who would tell him that the king must put his interest foremost.

Raphael presents the ideals that should be central to kingship: “I would urge the king to tend his ancestral kingdom and improve it as much as he could. He should love his people and be loved by them.”More is the under-sheriff of London and had performed several other roles. Giles, More’s friend was a clerk in the city of Antwerp. It would not be wrong to say that Utopia was written to enhance the public debate on the “ideal” state.

The king’s other counselors would reject this, however, and give the king contrary advice: “Thus the counselors agree with the maxims of Crassus: a king can never have enough money, since he has to maintain his army; a king can do nothing unjustly even if he wants to; all property belongs to the king, even the very persons of his subjects; no man has any other property than what the king out of his goodness thinks fit to leave him; the king should leave his as little as possible, as if it were to his advantage that his people should have neither riches not liberty.” Raphael then asks: Suppose I were to advise the king and his counselors that, “both his honor and his safety consisted more in his people’s wealth than in his own. Suppose I should maintain that men choose a king not for his sake, but for theirs, that by his care and efforts they may live comfortably and safely…. If I should press these views on men strongly inclined to the contrary, how deaf they would be to it all!” In discussing foreign policy, More ridicules the practice of almost all European rulers of the time, of treating relations among states as a war “of each against all’. The Utopians’ approach, More explains, is superior: They seek alliances based on common interest, and war is justified and accompanied by as little bloodshed as possible.

More tells Raphael: “Your Plato thinks that commonwealths will only become happy when either philosophers become kings, or kings become philosophers. No wonder we are so far from happiness, when philosophers do not deign to assist kings with their counsels.”The idea of public service is another major theme of this work.

Expanding and elaborating on his idea of a welfare state, More brings up a dialogue he had had at the dinner table of his former patron John Morton and says that justice in a society is its foundation. More argues that moral uplifting and not harsh punishments happened to be an effective method of curbing crimes in the society. More draws a picture of a Utopian government, as a republic in which most government positions were to be elected; the prince, for example, was to be elected for life!Such a government however could function effectively if leaders were committed to the common good and it was important that the people were capable of electing such leaders and competent enough to advise the government appropriately.

When was Utopia written?

Utopia was written in Latin by More was probably written towards the close of 1515; the first part, introductory, early in 1516. The book got first printed at Louvain, late in 1516, under the editorship of Erasmus, Peter Giles, and other friends of More in Flanders. More later revised it and then got it printed by Frobenius at Basle in November, 1518. It was reprinted at Paris and Vienna but did not see the light of publication during the lifetime of More. It was first published as an English translation 1) by Ralph Robinson in 1551. It got translated with more literary skill by Gilbert Burnet, in 1684. Burnet undertook the translation soon after he had conducted the defence of his friend Lord William Russell, who had been spitefully deprived by James II of his lectureship at St. Clement’s. Burnet attraction for Utopiawas similar to More who used the book to state the sense of unreason in high places.

Utopia also speaks of an advanced system of universal education is presented. In More Utopia,the entire population works, and there is no aristocratic class; thus everyone in Utopia has leisure time for study. Does it not remind of Gonzalo’s speech on commonwealth in Shakespeare’s The Tempest? Among the subjects that the book suggests should be taken up are music, geometry, and astronomy, this holistic approach is like the classical Greeks. It does not meanthat Morehad praises for scholastic attitude, he attacks them they were equal to the ancients in almost everything but way behind the modern logicians. The reason simple: they have not yet invented the subtle distinctions and hypotheses which have been so cleverly worked out in the schools of England at that time. More belonged to England that was theocentric and it was natural that he saw the above stated idea of the General Welfare as completely coherent with the teachings of Christ. In the books,More opines that Christianity was coherent with reason. More did not support Martin Luther’s doctrine that denied free. More thought that Luther’s doctrine was against faith and deny Christ and thus come to deny the value of works and do not bring them to good living.

What does Utopia basically say?

The book begins with a short six-line one stanza poem, followed by a four-line poem and a letter of greetings from Thomas More, to his friend Peter Giles. The two poems, written by Utopians, describes Utopia as an ideal state, an idea that gets elaborated as the book progresses. The first poem is by Utopia’s poet laureate. The poem builds a pun on the word Utopia as opposed to ‘eutopia’. Utopia actually means no-place, a fantasy while ‘eutopia’ means good place. Utopia is said to be ‘eutopia’ and compares it to Plato’s republic state. Thus it is possible to say that Utopia is a kind of response to Plato’s phenomenal work The Republic. More uses this book to aggravate his political philosophy though not in a direct manner. A quatrain written about Utopus (the general who founded the eponymous state) follows the sextet. Neither poem bears any significant resemblance to the established lyrical forms of More’s society. Indeed, the poem is translated into prose. The poem tells us that utopia was made into an island by the general, Utopus. It has subsequently become a “philosophical state.” Certainly, the image of the island parallels More’s Britain. Unlike its neighbors on the continental mainland, the island is militarily secure enough to forge its own identity and isolated enough to become a unique philosophical state. Moreover, the security of the island makes it safe for the citizens to traffic in commerce as participate in the trade and exchange of ideas. According to the poem, Utopia eagerly shares its ideas and adopts the best practices of other societies. Thomas More was the Under-sheriff of the City of London, in the service of King Henry VIII. Peter Giles was a corrector at a printing press and a clerk of the city of Antwerp. The prefatory letter concerns the printing and editing of the manuscript and also how Morehad first learned of the Utopians.Utopia is divided into Book I and Book II. Book I is a kind of debate among the three men that is More, Raphael and the More’s friend Peter Giles. They converse upon the obligations of a man of experience and how integrity plays an active role in the service of country and mankind. This segment is appropriately titled: “The Dialogue of Counsel.” The much traveled Raphael comments critically on the patterns of law, government, economics, and of the aristocrats in European nations including England. Raphael seems particularly against very severe penal code that he said did no good in controlling or curbing crime. Raphael is also vocal about the gross inequities in the distribution of wealth as well as the unequal participation in productive labour, such discrimination is against a welfare state.

Book I thus in presenting the negative side of his times, More intends to analysis what is wrong with the contemporary times and “civilization”. Thereafter, this particular book makes incidental references comparing the state of affairs in contemporary Europe with the ideal governance existingon the remote island called Utopia and the elaboration of it veers us to the second book of Utopia.

After dinner, Raphael sets out to give first a geographical detail of the island of Utopia in Book II.What is however notable that he does not specific detail of its location on the map though specifics like length and circumference are given to create a sense of real place.

There after the essence of a welfare state is understood as Raphael begins to describe the country and city life. It is said that people of the island alternated between city and country life at two year intervals. In the country life, people are actively engaged in agriculture. The capital city of the island is Amaurot and other cities are described in detail. The whole population engages in productive labour which means that no one has to work more than 6 hours a day. The only few exemptions from farm labor or working at a trade are government officials and priests.

Now for a clearer picture of governance, we are told of its structure. The leaders or government officials are citizens of superior intelligence and integrity are called the Philarchs and the Archphilarchs (sometimes referred to by their earlier titles of the Syphogrants and the Tranibors). The head of the government, elected by the Philarchs, is the Prince.

Equality is reflected in the homogeneous nature of houses built. They were not only uniform but also unpretentious. The people wore simple clothes. The basic unit of the society was the family and the oldest member the governor of the family. Thirty families put themselves up a great hall, eating together, the food made by women whilemenial tasks were meant to be performed by slaves. The slaves were incidentally mostly either criminals condemned for vicious crimes or prisoners captured in battle. There would also be some foreigners brought as slaves too. Naturally in this society thatmarriage was held in highest esteem and any breach of chastity called for heavy punishment. Divorce was permissible, but only under special circumstances.

Such a homogeneous structure does demand that the economic functioning of the land is well advocated. We learn of a free economy where markets were no more than supply houses from where one could take what one needed without money. Currency thus was not used in the land of Utopia. The surplus produce would be sold to foreign countries and wealth got in exchange went straight to the state exchequer. Naturally, the Utopians had no private property and the wealth acquired through trade with foreign countries was used only during the time of war. War is regarded as inhuman, something to be avoided if possible. Nevertheless, they were not blind to the fact that involvement in military conflicts at times could not be avoided and were well equipped to tackle military campaigns. Also, their method of treating a defeated enemy with clemency found much success.Treaties and Alliances were avoided entirely because of lack of trust in the fidelity of parties in such agreements! One interesting thing was that Utopians were taught to despise jewellery and precious jewels and look upon them as ridiculous adage. Cosmetics are scorned. Even magistrates never sought office nor did they wear distinguishing attire.

Raphael was well travelled man himself. Thus he is all praise for the land of Utopia where traveling in the realm was allowed during the period when one’s services were not needed and travelers would get free hospitality.

Now a state wanting to achieve a sense of equilibrium must also have same type of education. So in the state of Utopia education was all about useful learning, with the result that everyone acquired the same skills and concepts as the ancient Greeks. The people would devote their leisure hour to reading. Amongst the subjects most emphasized would be philosophy because it was seen as the foundation for all knowledge. This leads to the belief that a life pattern must accord with the dictates of nature. The idea that nature prompts people to seek pleasure and that is what people must strive to achieve. Pleasure is to be restricted only if causes harm to oneself or others. Careful classification is made over the different values that should guide pleasures of the body and of the mind. What comes as a surprise that Euthanasia was advocated in this society called Utopia!

In Utopia can there be lawyers? No. The laws of the land were brief and readily understood by laymen. An accused person could plead his own case with assistance from the judge. Raphael launches a strong attack on lawyers (one of Sir Thomas More’s many occupations). It speaks against those who speak to hear themselves and do not care to hear the subjects of their discourse. The lawyer is declared to be a proud hollow man and is held up to ridicule by Raphael and later by Sir Thomas Morealso.

Otherwise a liberal society, it did not practice a single religion throughout the nation. However what unified them was uniform belief in immortality, and, as a consequence people had a positive and cheerful attitude towards death. But atheists had no acceptance and would not be allowed to hold any office. There would be people who dedicated themselves to service and sacrifice that was equivalent to religious heads of Christian church. The priests were men of exceptional character and dignity and thechurches were large and beautiful. Raphael mentions that when he and his companions gave lectures to the Utopians on the teachings of Christianity, many of them became converts and even got themselves baptized.

Finally one has to come to summation and so does Raphael. He declares that Utopia that it is only true commonwealth. The reason gives is simple that there is equal justice for all of its citizens and everybody owns a share in everything. The result is a nation of happy people. The society is devoid of greed, theft, class differences and even murder. At the end of the discourse, More is not exactly converted to the Utopian system but agrees that there are indeed some very good features in the land of Utopia that can be adopted in Europe and his own country.

Narrative Technique

Speaking of the narrative technique in the text, Moreis found alluding to the scholarly and traditional literature of his period as well as earlier Greek and Latin works. That Utopia is a different body of work is asserted when look at the full title of the work: On the best form of a Commonwealth and on the

NewIsland of Utopia: a Truly Precious Book No Less Profitable than Delightful by the most Distinguished and Learned Gentleman Thomas More, Citizen and Undersheriff of the Illustrious City of London. The book can be taken as book on philosophy, travelogue, history, parable at places, a book on moral educationas well as a fictional adventure story in stories. Utopia we realize is a mixture of genres while itsintroduction is a kind of pasticheof different literary forms including the poem, the pictogram and the epistle – each used to achieve a definitive end.

A quatrain written about Utopus (the general who founded the eponymous state) follows the six line poem. It had subsequently become a “philosophical state.” Certainly, the picture of the island of Utopia parallels More’s Britain. Utopia though an island is militarily secure to having its strong identity but geographically isolated enough to have become unique as a philosophical state. Its security is so strong that travelling and dealing in trade and commerce is lucid. The poem states that Utopia eagerly shares its ideas and adopts the best practices of other societies too. Keeping with the fictional structure of the book, More envisions as one of the characters. Other fictional elements in the book is thatneither More nor Giles had a friend named Raphael Hythloday. The New World in 1516 was largely unexplored by Europeans and there was no land called the Utopia nor was More a much travelled man. In the epistle to Giles, More is actually writing to the reader indirectly. Giles as an individual who knew all these details were being supplied to the readers and this as a form is apostrophe because the speaker is addressing his intended audience indirectly. Narrative accuracy certainly involves issues of truth, so the way Utopia is narrated will determine the basis of its truth. So if Utopia is taken as a travelogue, we would like to see the accuracy of details provided. In that case the land of Utopia had no real geographical location. On the other hand if taken as a work of history, then it provides details of war, economic conditions in Europe and the alternative that was desirable.Even as a work of fiction, it attempts to develop a sense of pseudo reality.

Finally, the idea of travel to the “New World” is an obvious theme of Utopia. It is not possible to travel to Utopia as the route to it quiet dangerous. Hence the best option is to hear what Raphael has to say of this far away land. The time in which More lived, it was not uncommon to hear of tales of strange lands and this is exactly a motif that More uses for his book. It is thus convenient for More not to dismiss the idea that Utopia was located somewhere in the New World.

What Raphael sums up is a picture of the society – the good and bad and thus through this More brings himself to demonstrate the importance of a social theorist. The successful underlining of the fact that the actions of individuals were determined by wealth and power was significant because many of Sir Thomas More’s contemporaries, for example, still believed in the Great Chain of Being, a conception of society that held each individual’s social and political status was directed by God. More’s Utopia is vision of a better society and to be taking of equality in every sphere was huge thing in a very feudal society from where More was writing.

What have critics to say of the text?

Critics have variedly responded to More’s text. Kautsky , J.H. Hexter and Helgerson saw pro-communist tendency. Hexter, stresses on the attitude of private property as the thrust found in communism. Hexter cited letters from the humanists Hieronymus Buslidius, GuillielmusBudaeus and BeatusRhenanus as concrete enough to say that his perception of Utopiawas not misplaced. Absolutely opposite to it happens to be the early responses of William Tyndale, Nicholas Harpsfield, Thomas Wilson and Erasmus of Rotterdam. Erasmus is both complex and ambiguous in comment on the book that they in turn have given support to metaphorical or ironical perception for the book. In nutshell, later critics have agreed upon the pluralist approach in the text.

While it is impossible, then, to fix the meaning of Utopia by means of textual analysis, a last alternative consists in having recourse to its historical context but then this approach is not free of difficulty. There is an unlimited number of different contexts upon which the interpretation of Utopia can be based.. Champions of the Marxist-literal reading like Kautsky take into account the social grievances in England in More’s time and even the description about Plato’s Republic while example of Amerigo Vespucci’s travel books was used by Morton and Bloch. Critics not convinced of this communist angle like Heiserman and Dorsch suggest that More was influenced by Lucian satires. This gets its stem from the fact that More had in a letter to Petrus Aegidius that most usually made an all too literal reading of his book. This further gets its sheen from the truth that later in his life More as a politician took a conservative line. Also those following the historical context for criticism would realize the possibility of discoveries that could neutralize a particular thought. It cannot be overlooked given the repressive political nature of his country at that time, More had to be ironic in some aspects. It has been suggested that More’s later conservative line had to do with reformation. Schulte- Herbruggen point out that More never got his book published in England, the unwillingness to be seen as anti-communist agenda. This probably does not hold much water because with friends like Erasmus, he did not have the need to fear for his life. Thus with the flow of criticism nullifying each other, it is best concluded that it is impossible to provide one single interpretation to More’s Utopia.

Reference:

1. Pagden. The Languages of Political Theory in Early Modern Europe.
2. More, Thomas (1516/1967), “Utopia”, trans. John P. Dolan, in James J. Greene and John P. Dolan, edd., The Essential Thomas More, New York: New American Library.
3. Sullivan, E. D. S. (editor) (1983) The Utopian Vision: Seven Essays on the Quincentennial of Sir Thomas More San Diego State University Press, San Diego, California.