Utopia: Difference between revisions

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It's a fictional depiction of a rationally organised society, narrated by a voyager, Raphael Hitlodaeus, that arrives from an [[exploration]] travel. The Utopian society has no [[lawyer]]s, and doesn't send its citizen to war, but hires [[mercenary|mercenaries]] among its warprone neighbours. Probably More, a Church man, was inspired by the [[monk|monachal]] rule when he describes the working of his society. It was an inspiration for the ''[[Reducciones]]'' established by the [[Jesuit]]s to Christianize and civilize the [[Guarani]]s.
 
The title has since been used as a generic word to describe both works of fiction in which the author's theories of a better way to organise society are dramatised, and actual communities founded in attempts to put such theories into practice. The theories generally revolve around a more equitable distribution of goods, frequently with the total abolition of money, and citizens only doing work which they enjoy, leaving them with ample time for the cultivation of the arts and sciences. The sewers in a utopia ''never'' need unblocking. The utopia may be usefully contrasted with the [[dystopia]].
 
The word "utopia" is coined from two [[Greek language|Greek]] roots meaning "nowhere" (<I>ou</I> meaning "not" and <I>topos</I> meaning "place"). The prefix '''u''' ("not") is similar to '''eu''' (at least in English pronunciation), which means "good", so '''utopia''' is often misinterpreted to mean "perfect place".
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*[[B. F. Skinner]]'s ''[[Walden Two]]'' ([[1948]])
* ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'' ([[1957]]) by [[Ayn Rand]]
* ''[[Star Trek]]'' ([[1966]]) [[science fiction]] television series by [[Gene Roddenberry]]
*''[[The Dispossessed]]'' ([[1974]]), a [[science fiction]] novel by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]], is sometimes said to represent one of the few modern revivals of the utopian genre, though it is notable that one of the major themes of the work is the ambiguity of different notions of utopia. Le Guin presents a world in which ditches do need digging, and sewers need unblocking---this drudgery is divided among all adults, and is contrasted, in the language of the utopia, with their everyday, more satisfying work.
* ''[[Ecotopia (novel)]]'' ([[1975]]) by [[Ernest Callenbach]]