Comparing Platos Republic, Mores Utopia, and Gurneys Dinotopia Essay

Platos Republic, Mores Utopia, and Gurneys Dinotopia Throughout history, mankind has struggled to lead better lives and improve their society for future generations. What do we continuously attempt to improve? What kind of changes atomic number 18 we trying to institute? In other words, what is an ideal society? Many people have very diversified views about a perfect civilization. In Platos Republic, Sir Thomas Mores Utopia, and James Gurneys Dinotopia, three imaginary societies are described, each with its own peculiarities and highlights. Various aspects of the nations described in these three novels, including their respective economies, governments, and social structures, will be compared and contrasted. A crucial aspect of any society would be its economy. In Utopia, business was conducted chiefly to import iron, and in many cases they traded on credit. The Utopians have no currency, though they trade their goods for gold in order to pay mercenaries in times of wa r. If one is in need of something, one merely has to inform the whirl of ones household and he will get it. Their society is arranged so that they reject many material things that our society would consider valuable, such as silver and diamonds. The Utopians fail to understand why anyone should be so fascinated by the dull gleam of a tiny bit of stone, when he has all the stars in the sky to look at - or how anyone can be silly enough to think himself better than other people, because his clothes are made of fine woolen thread than theirs (More 89). To minimize the importance of these materials, Utopians make everyday objects out of them, identical chamber pots. In Dinotopia, people are given what they require, much like Utopia, although the... ...h political and financial equality, forming the foundation for everlasting peace. This ideal society would be ruled by a government that truly represents the people and endeavors to direct its citizens on the route to lif e, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As Sir Francis Bacon said, Man seeketh in society comfort, use, and protection. Works Cited Ferguson, John. Utopias of the Classical World. Ithaca, NY Cornell UP, 1975. Manuel, Frank E. and Fritzie P. Manuel. Utopian Thought in the Western World. Cambridge, MA Belknap-Harvard Press, 1979. More, Thomas. Utopia. Trans. capital of Minnesota Turner. New York Penguin Books, 1965. Plato. Republic. Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Indianapolis Hackett Publishing, 1974. Rice, Eugene E. and Anthony Grafton. The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559. 2nd. ed. New York W. W. Norton and Co., 1994.