Classical utopia
4.99 €
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Classical utopia
4.99 €
The idea of utopia itself belongs to Plato, who 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 and creator is officially considered to be the outstanding British humanist of the 16th century Thomas More. He also gave his "wonderful island" (and at the same time 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 eccentric ideas of state education of children to the judgment of shocked contemporaries. 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, populated by fantastic creatures...
The societies that you will read about in this collection will hardly seem “utopian” in the usual sense of the word to the modern reader – but it will be all the more interesting to learn how the happiness of humanity was imagined many centuries ago.
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 and creator is officially considered to be the outstanding British humanist of the 16th century Thomas More. He also gave his "wonderful island" (and at the same time 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 eccentric ideas of state education of children to the judgment of shocked contemporaries. 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, populated by fantastic creatures...
The societies that you will read about in this collection will hardly seem “utopian” in the usual sense of the word to the modern reader – but it will be all the more interesting to learn how the happiness of humanity was imagined many centuries ago.
See also:
- All books by the publisher
- All books by the author
- All books in the series The best world classics