Classical utopia
4.99 €
Out of stock
The idea of utopia itself belongs to Plato, who, in fact, created the first model of an ideal society in the history of European thought in his “Republic”. However, the genre of literary utopia – that is, a work describing a society that is impeccably happy from the author’s point of view – is relatively young: its father-creator is officially considered to be the outstanding 16th-century British humanist Thomas More. He also gave his “wonderful island” (and the entire genre) the name “Utopia” – either from the Greek “good place”, or from the Greek “place that does not exist”.
How did the great dreamers of the distant past imagine an ideal society?
Thomas More allowed for the existence of slaves in his ideal society...
Tommaso Campanella presented his shocked contemporaries with eccentric ideas for the state education of children...
Francis Bacon sang the praises of a society that put the achievements of science to its service - from the "perpetual motion machine" to the telephone...
And Cyrano de Bergerac created a paradoxical and funny world inhabited by fantastic creatures...
The societies that you will read about in this collection are unlikely to seem "utopian" in the usual sense of the word to the modern reader - but it will be all the more interesting to learn how people imagined the happiness of humanity many centuries ago.
How did the great dreamers of the distant past imagine an ideal society?
Thomas More allowed for the existence of slaves in his ideal society...
Tommaso Campanella presented his shocked contemporaries with eccentric ideas for the state education of children...
Francis Bacon sang the praises of a society that put the achievements of science to its service - from the "perpetual motion machine" to the telephone...
And Cyrano de Bergerac created a paradoxical and funny world inhabited by fantastic creatures...
The societies that you will read about in this collection are unlikely to seem "utopian" in the usual sense of the word to the modern reader - but it will be all the more interesting to learn how people imagined the happiness of humanity many centuries ago.
See also:
- All books by the publisher
- All books by the author
- All books in the series Exclusive classic