There is no Universal Utopia Essays -- essays research papers

The idea of a utopia is one which has spanned many millennia. The first example of a utopia was the Garden of Eden, and since then mankind has endeavored to reach this perfect existence, a world without problems, where everyone can abide in peace. Just the word ‘Utopia’ summons up a whole assemblage of images, images which differ from person to person. This is why the concept of a utopia has been so tossed around, because no one can truly say what a utopia is. From Plato's republic in 380BC right up to the modern day, literally hundreds of books have been written, and movies made, all which give differing opinions on what is the perfect world. It is impossible for one person to try to comprehend what would be the perfect utopia in which every person would be happy, so we must consider that perhaps the utopias written about are not meant for the multitudes, but are only supposed to exist in the minds of those who create them. This means that what might be a utopia for one person, may be a dystopia for another, this is because the laws, policies religious beliefs and social issues within any given utopia, whilst they seem fair to the creator, may be completely intolerable to everyone else. Firstly though, we must actually consider what a utopia actually is. Thomas more describes his utopia as being an ordinary place, with normal lands and creatures. But his utopia was created by people, and the laws by which they live, which provide everything that people need to survive, as long as they abide by the laws which are plentiful and strict. This type of utopia is basically communist, where everyone is equal. In this utopian society, there is no money, this means that no one person can feel superior because of wealth, and no one ... ...nd thought about, and there is much conjecture about them, a utopia, regardless of what the dictionary says, cannot truly be defined. Its philosophy can be defined, that is, a perfect state, but no-one has been able to create a utopia that everyone regards as perfect, they have only been able to describe a place that they regard as perfect. That is the essence of utopias, they are not intended to ever actually exist, but are a criterion towards which people are supposed to aim, to grow, to change, to try and reach true perfection where everyone can exist in bliss, almost every society in history has had some idea of this heaven, the Vikings had nirvana, Christians have heaven and Buddhists have their pure spiritual state. Throughout history people have aimed towards this perfection and will continue to do so until either it is reached, or human life ceases to exist.