Utopia

Author: More, Saint Thomas, Baker-Smith, Dominic

Western philosophy: Medieval & Renaissance, c 500 to c 1600

Published on 30 August 2012 by Penguin Books Ltd (Penguin Classics) in the United Kingdom.

'It remains astonishingly radical ... one of Utopia's most striking aspects is its contemporaniety' Terry EagletonIn Utopia, Thomas More gives us a traveller's account of a newly-discovered island where the inhabitants enjoy a social order based on natural reason and justice, and human fulfilment is open to all. As the traveller describes the island, a bitter contrast is drawn between this rational society and the practices of Europe. How can the philosopher reform his society? In his discussion, More takes up a question first raised by Plato and which is still a challenge in the contemporary world. In the history of political thought few works have been more influential than Utopia, and few more misunderstood.

Translated and introduced by Dominic Baker-Smith