Utopia... and More Utopia

(There's nothing like starting a blog with a pun :p)

Sir Thomas More's Utopia is most famous for surviving on an economic theory we would refer to as communism. Everyone works for the society, and anything they produce is not privately owned but shared equally by the society. They have no money, except in a large communal treasury (or junkyard) to be used as a tool against foreigners. This economic system is one that, as we all know, always makes the most sense, and works fairly well in microscopic communities. But whenever it's applied to a large group of people, something always goes wrong. If this island were real, for instance, we would expect it's economy or government to collapse within a few years, let alone the 1,800 years Hythloday boasts of. The reader wonders why every citizen doesn't say "why should I work 6 hours a day? Don't we all live in abundant supply? If I work 5 or 4 hours, and spend the rest of the day in Epicurean pleasures, do I not end with the same lot? In fact, why should I work at all if everyone else will supply my needs?" While most people write off Utopia as either impossible or another example of a tiny community, I believe that Sir Thomas More did think of that problem, any answered it with the one thing every Marx, Mao, and Lenin completely missed.

The figures given of Utopia proves that we're not dealing with a small, classless state, as we're used to today. Because Sir Thomas More lived in an era of what we would "proto-novels", a lot of his details are much more precise than any Utopian work before him. Like many writers after him, he uses these details to give a sense of how big the island is, and therefore justify using a complex system to run it. He says that there are 30,000 people for every Syphogrant, and 200 Syphogrants all together, and therefore giving a total population of 6 million (more than twice the size of England). He says that there are 16 people per family, and 6,000 families per city, giving the total size of each city as more than 78,000 people (rounded to 100,000 in the footnotes, much larger than the average city in Europe). This size is exact for every city, because the laws force people to move if the numbers change. This means that there are 3 Syphogrants per city, as Hythloday confirms. Because there are 54 cities, then that approximates the urban  population to 5.4 million, meaning that about 600,000 live in the country. The island itself is circular shaped, with a diameter of 500 miles (or 800 km). That gives a total area of about 500,000 km2, which is twice the size of the British Isles, and closer to Madagascar. As there about 300,000 families, that means (in terms of population density) that every family gets about 1.6 km2, which is good because every family needs a farm. These figures make it even more remarkable that Hythloday boasts of 0% unemployment. But those who don't contribute to society are made slaves, and Hythodolay never mentions how many slaves there are, so we don't know what the actual unemployment rate is.

Anyway, now that this has proven that we're dealing with a developed, urban society and not a group of "noble savages", we come back to the original problem: how can we get 6 million people to contribute to society in an unbiased manner, without falling into sloth or greed? Sir Thomas More's answer is, surprisingly, very similar to the solutions of both Plato and Augustine before him: religion and philosophy. Everyone in the community, and therefore everyone who works, holds to the belief in an overarching deity that both created them, and holds them accountable to their actions. Not that people work out of fear of Mithra, but rather they see the goodness of God as analogous to the harmony of soul and body. Mithra looks faithfully over them, not merely as a judge, but as a bill of rights that everyone can turn to for absolute standards. All other traditions, philosophies, and sciences may vary among the citizens of Utopia, but this one fundamental axiom remains constant, like a cornerstone to their society. Once that is established, not only do all the citizens gladly work 6 hours a day, but improve their society to create new development of science and mathematics.

But what happened to the communist manifesto of Marx, Lenin, and Mao? Religion is merely the "opiate of the masses," and people are expected to work for the society simply for the sake of society, and nothing greater. The "enlightened" thinkers had dimmed their minds by rejecting the only thing in the world that is indispensable.

It's too bad that I have no skill in art, as it would complete my life to see Sir Thomas More's face Photoshopped into a stereotypical communist propaganda poster, perhaps with Plato and St. Benedict behind him.

Test and prove all things

Plato famously said “only when philosophers become kings can we truly have justice,” and indeed that has become the basis for many Utopias since. Of course, two thousand years later, we are beyond any sort of intellectual elitism. But the idea of holding very high standards of intelligence, and the expectation that all decisions should be made after careful contemplation, is still paramount to a perfect society in my opinion. In other words, society must uphold a contemplative and speculative life as the most admirable quality of humanity. This change is society is best achieved through education.

It is very unfortunate that our society does not hold philosophy to be very important at all, let alone the basis for all society. If a person is lucky, he might be able to squeeze in a philosophy major into some obscure university, but then risk losing all hope for employment. In fact, anyone who spends most of their time in contemplation is usually ridiculed by more popular folks, who tend to think more with their hearts than their heads. Instead, it is these quiet thinkers should be looked up to.

People continue to debate on the importance of topics ranging from the environment to the economy to the social order, but all of that is useless without a basis for reason. Where would climate change be without environmental science? Where would economic policy be without economic science? And where would talk of social justice begin without a basis for ethics or morality? Everything that separates our society from dumb animals is our ability to take the world around us and hold it up to a higher, intellectual standard. We eat to survive, but we just as easily make culinary arts. The noises we make are not just some mating call, but we have the ability to make poetry and literature.

In a similar manner, everything in society can be held up to an ultimate standard of truth and justice, against which absolute right and wrong, truth and false can be discerned. Some call it science, while others call it philosophy. Ultimately, all other laws hang on this. When society recognizes this, and protects that standard for rationality above all else, then Utopia can be achieved. 

The seven liberal arts, with philosophy at the center, from a medieval manuscript

And here is how that can be implemented: first, the scientific community (with other academia) should take certain reforms, spelling out a general standard for scientific thought, and placing philosophy as the most fundamental science. Then there should be a reform of education. Rather than being taught raw information, students should first be taught how to interpret information. Facts taken straight from the internet or television, without first critically analyzed, should be frowned upon. Children need to be taught from a young age that wealth and fame will never make them happy, but truth and justice will.

The renowned author Dr. Seuss once wrote about a fanciful school in Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!. One of the most memorable lines from that comes from one of the teachers: “and most importantly, we taught you how to think”. Perhaps that should be the models for all schools.