The Idea of Perfection in Utopian Societies

Utopia. A word generally used to describe perfection or a perfect society. In contrast, there is dystopia used to describe a not so perfect society or a society that is falling apart. Although there are definitions for these words, are these societies achievable? Can perfection be achieved in society or is it the illusion of perfection?  The idea of perfection varies from person to person which makes perfection unattainable.

Utopia is generally defined as a perfect society where equality among all people exists and everyone lives with the same rights as everyone else.

In the ideas of our readings, we learned that perfection differs which makes each person’s utopia different as well. For More, he believed that slaves should exist in his version of utopia which defeats the idea of equality in a utopian society. For Plato, a utopian society is where philosophers are rulers because they have the knowledge of truth that is needed to rule the kingdom. As you can see, perfect societies differ depending upon the person sharing their vision of utopia.

We also learned that in different time periods, utopias changed. The idea of a utopian society changed from Plato’s time to More’s time and then to Swift’s time as well. This is due to the circumstances of life that the writers encounter when deciding what a society of their time needs in order to be perfect. For example, Condorcet was writing in the time of the French Revolution, so the idea of the aristocracy was not a popular thing therefore his utopia could not be ruled by aristocracy.

Due to the fact that perfection differs from person to person thus creating different visions of utopia, a utopian or perfect society is not achievable.