Utopia

            Utopianism was a way of life that consisted of a perfect, full-function society. The idea of utopia has evolved and taken many forms since Sir Thomas More first coined the word in 1516. Originating with Greek philosophers, the concept has changed into a distinctly Western perception relating to progress or improvement dating from the Renaissance. During the 1830's and 1840's, the people of America experimented thoroughly with massive utopian movements. However, practically all of the attempts failed miserably and proved to be a cause not anywhere within the reach of society. There was a comparable line between each attempt, proving a common ground of failure that proved history could repeat itself incessantly. Modern debate clearly shows that there are motivating forces behind each side of perspective. The actual question at hand is why the Utopian movements were unsuccessful and what factors essentially caused it to fail. It was truly ironic that perfectly envisioned societies failed. Utopian ideas have had an impact on almost every aspect of life. With the Renaissance the ideal of a utopia became more sophisticated, but the religious component in utopian philosophy is often present from then on. To understand More's work, it is important to define what a utopia is, how the term came about and what literature influenced More as well as how More's book influenced following generations of utopia writers due to this startlingly original work. The Oxford English Dictionary defines utopia as "a place, state or condition ideally perfect in respect to the politics, laws, customs and conditions" or "an impossibly ideal scheme especially for social improvement." Although More was not the first to clarify what makes up an ideal society, he was the one to coin this word to describe it. It provides an alternative system that sees justice and equality as fundamental elements that all citizens should be given right of entry.