Fiction
Utopia
In Utopia, Thomas More gives us a traveler's account of a newly discovered island where the inhabitants enjoy a social order based on natural reason and justice, and human fulfillment is open to all. As the traveler, Raphael, describes the island to More, a bitter contrast is drawn between this rational society and the custom-driven practices of Europe. So how can the philosopher try to reform his society? In his fictional discussion, More takes up a question first raised by Plato and which is still a challenge in the contemporary world. In the history of political thought, few works have been more influential than Utopia, and few more misunderstood.