Book description
'Even if you can't eradicate harmful ideas or remedy established
evils, that's no reason to turn your back on the body politic'
In Utopia, Thomas More gives us a traveller's account of a
newly-discovered island where the inhabitants enjoy a social order
based on natural reason and justice, and human fulfilment is open to
all. As the traveller, Raphael, describes the island to More, a bitter
contrast is drawn between this rational society and the custom-driven
practices of Europe. So how can the philosopher try to reform his
society? In his fictional discussion, More takes up a question first
raised by Plato and which is still a challenge in the contemporary
world. In the history of political thought few works have been more
influential than Utopia, and few more misunderstood.
Dominic Baker-Smith's introduction examines the conflicting voices
and perspectives of More's masterpiece and relates them to the
European context of his time. This new edition also includes a
chronology, notes, appendices, glossary and suggested further reading.
Translated and introduced by Dominic Baker-Smith
