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Editorial

Utopia: Living in a Nowhere Land

by Tim Madigan

“Nations will be happy, when either philosophers become kings, or kings become philosophers.”
Cardinal Morton, quoted in Thomas More’s Utopia (1516)

Last year I was given the opportunity by my friend David Suits, chair of the philosophy department at the Rochester Institute of Technology, to teach an experimental course on Philosophy and Utopias. It was a great experience for me to explore such time-honored places such as the Garden of Eden, the Golden Age, Plato’s Republic, the City of the Sun, El Dorado, and the New Atlantis, all of which were used by noted philosophers and theologians as examples of perfect societies. The Big Daddy of them all, of course, is Thomas More’s 1516 classic, Utopia, a land where the citizens elect their leaders, work for no more than six hours a day (with plenty of time left in the day to discuss philosophy), have universal health care (including the right of euthanasia), have religious harmony (with both male and female priests), feel that it is a disgrace to go to war (and hire others to do their fighting for them when wars do break out), have long-lasting romantic relationships (where potential mates get the chance to see each other in the nude before agreeing to marry, and where divorce – while not encouraged – is at least allowed), and perhaps best of all, where there are no lawyers.

Many have read More’s work as a blueprint for just the sort of society we should be living in, but one must be cautious.

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