Thomas more utopia pdf

UTOPIA CONCERNING THE BEST STATE OF A COMMONWEALTH AND THE NEW ISLAND OF UTOPIA by Sir Thomas More 2 For more texts of enduring interest, visit the QuikScan Library at //quikscan.org/li- brary/index.html Sir Thomas Mores Utopia, published, in Latin, in 1516, is an exploration of the best way for human beings to live together. In Book I we meet Raphael Hythloday, a mysterious, free-spirited world traveler who sharply criticizes England and other European nations by constrast to the much better commonwealth he has visited: Utopia. In Book II we learn how the Utopians have abolished private property, choose their leaders democratically, disdain gold and finery, avoid war, deeply re- spect learning, and tolerate all religious ideas. More carefully distances himself from the many radical ideas that Raphael describes, but after 500 years thoughtful people still ponder the slender volume that the Victorian visionary and social re- former John Ruskin called the most mischievious book ever written. Why a QuikScan edition? QuikScan is provides brief summaries throughout the book, making it much easier to understand and dramatically increasing retention. And, if a section of the book doesn't interest you, read just the summary and keep going. We hope to draw more people to this brilliant and important work and to provide a richer, more en- joyable reading experience. The translation of Utopia used here and most of the notes are borrowed from the Open Utopia edition, edited by Stephen Duncombe [//theopenutopia.org]. The QuikScan summaries, introductory essays, and additional footnotes are by David K. Farkas. Duncombes translation and footnotes are licensed under a Creative Commons At- tribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. It is therefore open to use, open to copying, and open to modification. Farkas contributions are in the public domain. For example, editors of future editions are welcome to include [and modify] my QuikScan summaries First release: March 1, 2016; revised April 25. Thomas Mores Utopia 3 Table of Contents About Sir Thomas More About Mores Utopia 1: Overview of the book About Mores Utopia 2: More distances himself from Utopia About Mores Utopia 3: What do we make of this? About this Edition 1: What this edition offers you About this Edition 2: Things to know Prefatory Epistle: Thomas More to Peter Giles BOOK I 1 More travels to Flanders. Meets Giles and Hythloday 2 RH relates his travels below the Equator 3 RH rejects the idea of serving a monarch 4 RH tells of his visit to Cardinal Morton in England. A debate about thieves. 5 A further reason for thievery: The enclosure of land for sheep 6 The Cardinal enters the discussion. RH presses his argument. 7 RH continues his argument citing the Polylerites in Persia 8 The Cardinal voices cautious approval 9 A ridiculous episode: The jester insults the friar 10 RH presses his point that court service is futile, showing how badly European nations are governed 11 I propose a pragmatic approach, which RH rejects 12 RH: The root evil, I believe, is individual property and money 13 I questioned holding property in common. RH: But you dont know Utopia. Thomas Mores Utopia 4 Book II 1 Introduction: Geography and history 2 Their cities, particularly Amaurot 3 Their magistrates 4 Their occupations 5 Their social relations 6 Their travel 7 Their wealth 8 Their philosophies 9 Their philosophies [continued] 10 Their learning 11 Their slaves 12 Their deaths 13 Their marriage 14 Their laws and punishments 15 Their foreign policies 16 Their military affairs 1: Extreme reluctance to shed blood 17 Their military affairs 2: Assassinations and mercenaries 18 Their military affairs 3: Leadership and valor 19 Their military affairs 4: Tactics and policies 20 Their religions 1: Core beliefs 21 Their religions 2: Religious life and priesthood 22 Their religions 3: Festivals and temples 23 Their true commonwealth: Concluding remarks Thomas Mores Utopia About Sir Thomas More 5 About Sir Thomas More TOC 1. Sir Thomas More was a pre-eminent Renaissance Humanist, an upright public figure, a martyr, and a saint. Today he is revered by a broad spectrum of people. 2. Well-born and well-educated, he served the eminent Cardinal Morton as a page, studied Latin and Greek at Oxford, left after two years to study law, and joined the bar in 1502. 3. More seriously considered becoming a monk and followed ascetic religious practices, such as wearing a hair shirt, all this life. 4. More married in 1505 and had four children before his died in 1511. More immediately married the feisty Alice Middleton. 5. More moved steadily upward as a public official, gaining great respect. He became Lord Chancellor in 1529. Thomas Mores Utopia About Sir Thomas More 6 6. In his fine home in Chelsea, built in 1525, More hosted King Henry, Humanist intellectuals, and many others. He enjoyed a domestic life with his large family. 7. More recognized the pervasive corruption of the Roman Catholic Church and sought reform. But he remained a staunch Catholic and strongly opposed the Reformation. 8. Unwilling to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and to endorse Henrys divorce from Queen Catherine, More retired to private life and hoped to be left alone. 9. However, he was imprisoned and, in July 1535, tried for high treason and executed. 1 Sir Thomas More is remembered both for Utopia, one of the most influential books written by an English author, and as a public figure of great integrity, an embodiment of the ideals of Renaissance Humanism, a martyr, and a saint. More gave up his position as Chancellor of England and accepted imprisonment and ex- ecution rather than acknowledge Henry VIII as head of the Roman Catholic Church in England or recognize the annulment of Henrys marriage to Catherine of Aragon, when Henry wanted to marry Ann Bolyn. More is a saint in the Roman Catholic Church and also in the Anglican church, even though he was a fierce op- ponent of Protestantism. More was also a scholar and intellectual, a pre-eminent member of the circle of Re- naissance Humanists led by his friend Erasmus. Utopia is his foremost, but hardly his only, literary achievement. His unfinished History of King Richard III, while showing bias against Richard, is a very vivid narrative and is considered a land- mark in historical writing. Finally our knowledge of his domestic life speaks to his loving nature, his great capacity for friendship, and the superb application, within his household, of his values as a Renaissance humanist. More was also a scholar and intellectual, a pre-eminent member of the circle of Re- naissance Humanists led by his friend Erasmus. Utopia is his foremost, but hardly his only, literary achievement. His unfinished History of King Richard III, while showing bias against Richard, is a very vivid narrative and is considered a land- mark in historical writing. Finally our knowledge of his domestic life speaks to his loving nature, his great capacity for friendship, and the superb application, within his household, of his values as a Renaissance humanist. More is revered by a broad spectrum of people, religious and non-religious. Be- cause Utopia is a communist state in which social justice is paramount, More was esteemed by the Socialists and Marxists of the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, he is a figure from the past who reminds us of the human potential for integrity, cour- age, and love as he asks us to strive to become our best selves. 2 More was born in London in 1478 into the family of the successful lawyer Sir John More. He received the best of schooling St. Anthonys grammar school and at age 12 he became a page [with the continuation of his schooling] in the household of John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England. Mor- Thomas Mores Utopia About Sir Thomas More 7 ton held his young page in high regard, and More remembered his years with Mor- ton very fondly. We meet Morton as a character in the dialog that makes up Book I of Utopia. At age 14, More went to Oxford and studied under the eminent scholars and Hu- manists Thomas Linacre and William Grocyn. He became proficient in Greek as well as Latin, wrote comedies [which do not survive], and studied formal logic. Af- ter only two years he left Oxford at his fathers insistence to study law in London. He joined the bar in 1502. 3 More seriously considered abandoning his legal career to become a monk. For several while he was studying law, More he lived near the Carthusian monastery outside London and took part in their spiritual exercises. Although he deeply ad- mired their piety, More ultimately decided to remain a layman, largely because he did not want to live celibate. However, for the rest of his life More continued cer- tain ascetical practices, such as wearing a hair shirt next to his skin and occasion- ally engaging in self-flagellation. In some respects Utopian society exhibits both the monastic life that More was drawn to and the opportunities for a fulfilling mar- riage and family life that More chose for himself. 4 More married Jane Colt in 1505. She was about 10 years younger than her hus- band, quiet and good-natured. Erasmus reported that More wanted to give his young wife a better education than she had previously received at home, and he tutored her in music and literature. They appear to have been very happy together, and they had four children before Jane died in 1511. Within a months time, More married a wealthy widow, Alice Harpur Middleton, who was seven years older than More and brought her own daughter into the mar- riage. More was already well acquainted with Lady Alice and her family and was eager to have a suitable woman raise his four children. Unlike his first wife, Alice was feisty and full of opinions. More, a famous jokester, once described her as nei- ther a pearl or a girl. Nonetheless, More and Lady Alice lived happily but did not have children of their own. More wrote this remarkable epitaph on the grave of his first wife in Chelsea Old Church: Here lies Joanna, dear little wife of Thomas More, who intends this tomb for Alice and me. The first united to me in my youthful days, gave me a boy and three girls to call me father. The second, a rare distinction in a stepmother, was as affectionate as if the children were her own. It is hard to say if the first lived with me more beloved than the second does now. Oh how blessed if fate and religion had permitted all three of us to live together. I pray the tomb and heaven may unite us, thus death could give what life could not give. Thomas Mores Utopia About Sir Thomas More 8 More insisted on giving his daughters the same education as his son, an unusual practice at the time. His eldest daughter, Margaret, in particular, was regarded as an excellent student. 5 More was elected to Parliament in 1504 and moved steadily upward as a public official and statesman. In 1510, He became one of the two undersheriffs of the City of London and earned the reputation as an honest and effective public servant. In 1514 he became Master of Requests and joined the Privy Council. Thomas was knighted by King Henry in May 1521. Other important appointments and duties as a diplomat followed. After Wolseys disgrace and death in 1529, More became Lord Chancellor of England, the first layman to hold this position. He was now the most powerful person in England after the King, and he was widely respected for his honesty at a time when bribery was rampant. 6 In 1524 he purchased and seven acres of land in Chelsea, then a pleasant village just two miles down-river from Westminster Abbey. He built a large, handsome house with beautiful grounds, a library, and a chapel. More hosted many guests at Chelsea, and regularly engaged in intellectual discussions with Humanist thinkers, including Erasmus, with whom More established a life-long friendship when Eras- mus first visited England in 1499. More, like the other Humanists of Europe, was a great letter writer, and collectively they discussed in their lengthy letters, key liter- ary, philosophical, political, and religious issues of their day. Henry himself regu- larly traveled to Chelsea on the State barge to visit his friend and counselor. Here is an excerpt from a letter in which Erasmus described Mores life in Chelsea: More has built for himself on the banks of the Thames not far from London a country house that is dignified and adequate without being so magnificent as to excite envy. Here he lives happily with his family, consisting of his Thomas Mores Utopia About Sir Thomas More 9 wife, his son and daughter-in-law, three daughters with their husbands and already eleven grandchildren. 7 Along with his fellow Humanists [and many others], More recognized the per- vasive corruption within the Roman Catholic Church and fervently sought reform. However, More remained a staunch Roman Catholic throughout his life, opposed the Reformation in his writings, and as Chancellor had no hesitation persecuting and executing Protestants. In the view of More, Erasmus, and others, Europe needed a single church as a framework for unity and peace. They were proven right insofar as the Reformation led to hundreds of years of fierce conflict in Eu- rope. 8 Henrys quarrels with the Vatican and decision to leave the Roman Catholic Church placed More in an impossible position. He was in no way seeking martyr- dom, but he could not fully acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and endorse Henrys divorce from Catherine of Aragon when Henry wanted to marry Ann Bolyn. He resigned as Chancellor and hoped to recede into private life. In 1533 More refused to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn as the Queen of England, [though he expressed his good wishes toward the couple]. This gesture was not enough. Henry, despite his personal reluctance, believed that he had to take strong action against More. 9 More was charged with accepting bribes, but the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. He was then tried, unsuccessfully, with conspiring with the Holy Maid of Kent, a nun who had prophesied that Henry would die if he remarried. On April 13, 1534, More refused before a royal commission to take an oath affirming the supremacy of the Crown over the Pope and to uphold Henrys annulment from Catherine. He was then arrested for treason and imprisoned in the Tower of Lon- don. In 1535 he was tried high treason before a panel of judges, found guilty, and Thomas Mores Utopia About Sir Thomas More 10 condemned to death. He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered [the usual punishment for traitors who were not of the nobility], but the King com- muted this to execution by decapitation. The execution took place on July 6, 1535. When he came to mount the steps to the scaffold, he is widely quoted as saying: I pray you, I pray you, Mr Lieutenant, see me safe up and for my coming down, I can shift for myself. While on the scaffold, he declared I die the king's good servant, but God's first. Thomas Cromwell, who had replaced More as Chancellor, has generally been re- garded as the ruthless and unjust agent of Mores prosecution and trial. A revision- ist narrative, popularized by novelist Hilary Mantel [Wolf Hall], emphasizes Mores rigidity of thought and harshness in persecuting heretics and portrays Cromwell more favorably. But the broad consensus supports the more traditional view of the life of Sir Thomas More. Sources for this section: John Guy, Thomas More, Arnold [Hodder Headline Group], 2000. Utopia, ed. Edward Surtz, S.J. and J.H. Hexter, Yale University Press, 1965, vol. 4 of The Complete Works of St. Thomas More. Saint Thomas More: An introduction for visitors to Allen Hall Seminary, Scritto da Redazione de Gliscritti: 19 /08 /2014 //www.gliscritti.it/blog/entry/2638 Thomas More, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The Cambridge Companion to Thomas More, ed. George L. Logan, Cambridge, 2011. Thomas More, Wikipedia. Thomas Mores Utopia About Utopia 11 About Mores Utopia TOC About Mores Utopia 1: Overview of the book 1 Raphael Hythloday, Mores narrator, describes a land far better governed than any nation in Europe. The Utopians have no personal property, elect their leaders, and much more. 2 They share the same vices as Europeans, but their institutionswhich are highly regulatedcurtail their bad impulses and bring them happy lives. 3 Today we still admire Mores vision and ponder which Utopian practices should be adopted. And, following More, we create our own Utopian and dystopian worlds. 4 Lets step back: In Book I, set in Antwerp, More and Giles converse with Giless mysterious acquaintenance, Raphael Hythloday [RH], who has traveled to the New World. 5 RH says he will not serve as a valued counselor to any prince. He values his freedom too much. Moreover, princes and their courts are too corrupt to heed good counsel. 6 As part of a lengthy digression, RH condemns Englands cruel practice of executing thieves. There are better alternatives. Thomas Mores Utopia About Utopia 12 7 Ultimately, says RH, the only way to reform Europe is to eliminate ownership of property. More and Giles are skeptical. RH defends his position, citing Utopia. 8 Book II consists of RHs low-key, topic-by-topic description of Utopian institutions. 9 When he finishes, More and Giles reject key features of Utopia, but allow that some aspects are worth emulating. 1 In Book II of Utopia, the traveler Raphael Hythloday, Mores primary narrator, describes an unknown land far below the Equator in the New World that is radi- cally different and far better governed than any of the nations of Europe. The Uto- pians own no personal property, choose their leaders democratically, permit all re- ligious beliefs, live simply but very well, have no need for lawyers, acknowledge the legitimacy of sexual desire, provide the best of health care to all citizens, embrace euthanasia, are generous to neighboring nations, and shrewdly minimize the im- pact of war when war proves necessary. 2 As individuals, the Utopians are no different from Europeans; they are subject to the same vices. But their highly regi- mented social institutions curtail the bad impulses of human nature and bring them harmonious, happy lives. 3 Today, after 500 years, we admire Mores vision, wonder whether Utopian so- ciety could actual work as well as More imagines, consider which of their practices we would really want, and weigh the price of extreme centralized planning and highly regimented living. We may also wonder whether More fully agrees with the practices of the Utopians. An important genre of our books and moviesthe fic- tion of Utopian societiesderives from Utopia, and [though less directly] so does the spin-off genre of dystopian worlds. So, here too, we are drawing upon Mores imaginative technique to ponder alternative worlds, good and bad. 4 It will be helpful at this point to step back and look at the overall structure of the book. Book I is set in Antwerp, where More and his friend Peter Giles engage in a dialog with Giles acquaintance, the mysterious [and fictitious] traveler Raph- ael Hythloday [abbreviated here as RH]. Scholars have established the useful convention of referring to More as Morus, the Latin form of his name, when More appears as a character in Utopia. The book, we must remember, was written in Latinthe international language and the language for serious literary writing in Renaissance Europe. RH is a Portuguese intellectual who has traveled extensively in the New World with Americus Vespucci. 5 At the beginning of the dialog, Morus and Peter Giles urge RH to make appropriate use of his unique and valuable knowledge of the world. They think he should serve society [and himself] by becoming a valued counselor to a European prince. RH rejects the idea: First, he fiercely guards his personal freedom. Second, the princes of Europe and the courts that surround them are far too corrupt to heed his counsel. 6 As part of a lengthy digression, RH condemns Englands extreme and cruel practice of executing thieves and cites better practices from well-governed nations he has visited [including those in the Thomas Mores Utopia About Utopia 13 New World]. 7 Returning to his original point about the futility of serving cor- rupt princes, RH states that the only way to really reform Europe is to eliminate private property. Giles and Morus express skepticism. In response, RH describes how the Utopians have created the ideal commonwealth [Book II]. 8 Book II is organized by topics [differing greatly in length] and reads like a low-key travel nar- rative, almost a corporate trip report. The ideas that More is working with are striking, even breathtaking, but the RHs narrative voice is laconic. 9 In the conclusion to Book II, RH once again condemns the injustice and cor- ruption of Europe and points to the success of the Utopians. In the final passage Morus rejects the key features of Utopia [and, especially, holding all wealth in common], while stating that there is much about Utopia worth emulating. Thomas Mores Utopia About Utopia 14 TOC About Mores Utopia 2: More distances himself from Uto- pia 1 More carefully distances himself from Utopia through many means, making his intentions elusive. 2 First, More, as author, slyly undercuts the positions taken by the fictionalized version of himself [Morus], as he appears in the book. 3 Because Utopian society developed without Christian Revelation, Mores readers would be inclined to regard objectionable Utopian practices as More pointing out pagan error. 4 Many of the proper names in Utopia are pseudo-Greek phrases that suggest that the book should not be taken seriously. 5 A prefatory letter from More to Giles published with the book humorously pretends that RH is a real person. 1 Those who have not actually read Utopia or have read it too casually assume it is simply Mores blueprint for an ideal world. In fact, there is much debate about Mores intentions in writing the book and his attitudes toward the institutions and customs of the Utopians. What is clear is that Mores intentions and attitudes are not straightforward. He takes numerous steps to distance himself from the book and from the land of Utopia. We will now examine this. 2 Morus is skeptical about RHs arguments in both Book I and Book II. However, Morus cannot be directly equated with More, the author. Morus doesnt say a lot, but he seems to be a duller, more conservative version of More himself. Morus ar- gues at the end of Book I that without money and private property people will not work hard enough to supply the needs of the state. But this idea is thoroughly con- tradicted in Book II, Section 4. Also, at the conclusion of Book II Morus objects to establishing a state without individual property and money because this would eliminate all nobility, magnificence, splendor, and majesty, which, according to the common opinion, are the true ornaments of a nation. But the historical Thomas More is no fan of magnificence and splendor, and the phrase according to the common opinion is a hint, I believe, of Mores subtly satiric intent in this pas- sage. By undercutting his own [represented] objections to RHs claims, More com- plicates our response to his book. 3 Utopian society has evolved without the benefit of Christian Revelation. It is true that they have developed beliefs that are as close to Christianity as one could come without knowing Christ and that, having received European visitors, they are rapidly embracing Christianity. But More knows that if his readers found any Uto- pian practices offensive, they would have to account this as pagan error and not something that More, a good Christian, would necessarily endorse. Thomas Mores Utopia About Utopia 15 4 Most of the names of people and places pertaining to Utopia and surrounding nations are humorously derived [mostly] from the Greek and suggest that the book should not be taken seriously. For example, when RH tells us that the Nephelo- getes warred against the Aleopolitanes, the etymologies of the two nations are people from the clouds and people of a people-less land. The name Utopia is also intriguingly ambiguous because the first syllable directly recalls the Greek ou-topos or no place but is very close to the Greek eu-topos or good place. The name Hythloday means speaker of nonsense. Finally, More is surely exploiting the odd coincidence that Morus, Mores own name in the book, means folly in Greek. 5 In a prefatory letter from More to Peter Giles [one of numerous extras that were added when the book was prepared for publication], More asks Peter to con- tact Raphael to clarify some details in the manuscript. This whimsical, transparent pretense that the book is factual makes the book seem more playful and less like a serious literary work.