The Eutopians

     The Utopians were a group of people that historian Jacques Barzun referred to as "Eutopians" because etymologically "utopian" literally means "no place" and "eutopian" would etymologically mean "good place.") with the belief that a utopia in their society was obtainable. Although, different groups with Eutopian ideologies had different ideas for how to create a utopia in Europe. One mentionable figure in this movement was Thomas More who wrote a book on his Eutopian ideas. These groups got started just after the 17th century, around the Age of Discovery, which did play a part in the rise of this way of thinking.

     Eutopians were of the opinion that a perfect society had not yet been created. Perhaps this was because most European societies during the Renaissance looked to tradition. They looked to the old Greek and Roman cultures. The Eutopians felt that tradition held society back from achieving utopia.

      This idea stemmed from the discovery of other, unheard-of cultures, where their traditions and ways of society were foreign to the Western World. It is also good to look at the culture of Europeans at this time. How much of the Eutopian thought was brought about by looking at other cultures and how much was just reflecting on what had come on their own culture?

     Nonetheless, this new thought of the time was interesting. After years of experiments with different cultures and stepping away from traditions, you can tell what was wrong with this idea, but also what was right about it. Some Eutopians believed that education needed to be improved to fix society, others felt it was important to acknowledge equality among all the people living in any society. 

     Equality among all people is an idea that has been taken to the extreme. In some places that meant communism, which was the original idea. Communist societies haven’t lasted long. Whether everyone was to contribute to the communist idea or not, it wasn’t going to work. That’s not how societies naturally form, or how humans work. The last straw to end these societies has always been the use of force. When people were forced to contribute to the society that erased the whole point of a perfect society. There was little free will in day-to-day life.

     That doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to have equality. Public schools give equality all the time, so does the law, which is what makes that so imperfect. Everyone has their own wants, needs, and values, and the older people get, the more clearly they understand their wants in life, the more their values change from their past selves. When kids are forced to go to public schools and get the same generalized education meant to aid the lowest standards, more and more kids fall through the cracks. They never get what they need as an individual. The same can be said for the smothering blanket of the law, which facilitates poverty, tyranny, and ignorance.

     This does not mean that the Eutopians were entirely ignorant, perhaps they had a point when Christendom fell apart a few decades earlier during Protestant Reformation. In a large society where everyone had the same values and the Church had enough political influence to reign in an out-of-control king, societies had everything these Eutopians wanted, they just obtained it through tradition, rather than stepping away from tradition. There may never be a group of societies with that Christendom effect of a common moral worldview ever again, especially if you have to force conversion to get it. That’s why force shouldn’t be used at all.