Utopia

In <i>Utopia</i> Thomas More gives us a traveller's account of a newly discovered island where the inhabitants enjoy a social order based on natural reason and justice and human fulfilment is open to all. As the traveller 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 <i>Utopia</i> and few more misunderstood.