Guest post
by K. P. Ambroziak
In 1516, Sir Thomas More coined the term utopia. I can’t actually prove this—none of the people who knew him are around today—but the claim is based on the notion that the name first appeared in his most renowned work, Utopia. The work was written in Latin, but the word itself is borrowed from the Greek—a marriage of ou meaning no, and topos meaning place. It seems only natural More went to the Greeks for his no-place; they had been discussing utopian premises since Plato’s Republic (c. 380 BCE), and maybe even before.
A utopia is a perfect society, a place where class and station don’t exist, money and poverty are irrelevant, all people are free and equal, education is meant for everyone, and the collective makes decisions in a fair and democratic manner. Simply put, utopia is fantasy. Continue reading “Is Dystopia the New Utopia?”