Utopia

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Utopia. Politico-philosophic work by Thomas More (1516), initiating a literary genre. Steeped in literary humanism, More sought for the best form of government through discussions with the fictitious Raphael Hythloday, addressing problems of counsel (from both monarchal and advisory viewpoints) and social concerns such as theft, before expanding into a more general analysis of Tudor England. This is followed by Hythloday's account of the ‘New Island of Utopia’ (‘No-place’), but its egalitarian commonwealth appears flawed since, despite religious freedom and absence of hunger and homelessness, personal freedom is restricted. If welfare democracies are anticipated, shadows of modern totalitarian regimes hover.

A. S. Hargreaves

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