How perfect would life be if no one ever failed and everyone followed a set of standards to be upheld? Sir Thomas More addresses this conjecture in Utopia, in which he discusses different failings of the normal world and compares these issues to the Utopians. More establishes a society that is governed by reason and logic to avoid the consequences of human failings. In the section dedicated to monetary values, More implements a new way of thinking about gold and silver. Punishments and rewards are addressed and the levels of punishment for different offenses. More also addresses the issue of suicide and euthanasia and the differences between suicide ordained by priests or not. Also, More establishes a clear method for marriage and divorce and
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Utopian society views two different types of suicide, ordained and honorable or not ordained and disgraceful. For one “who takes his own life without the approval of priests and senate, they consider unworthy…and throw his body, unburied and disgraced into a bog” (624). Suicide that is not ordained results is the highest form of disdain from others. Euthanasia however, is considered honorable in Utopian society. If a person has an incurable illness, the priests “urge the invalid not to endure such agony any longer” (624). Reasons for euthanasia include being unfit for daily activities and being a burden to keep alive. After “everything possible is done to mitigate the pain,” such invalids are not contributing to society whatsoever and are only living in constant agony (624). As long as the diseased person is ordained by the priest to commit such an act, it is considered honorable; otherwise, they are disgraceful. More presents a society that deals with euthanasia in a reasonable manner; why should someone stay alive if they are only in agony? This avoids human failures by not allowing selfishness by using resources but not contributing to society. More’s argument is logical because in Utopia, humans are used for resources. When a person can no longer be beneficial to society and is taking more resources than they can produce, they have become a burden to take …show more content…
More is simply coming up with a way to practice what all humans hope for, peace. All of the problems that he addresses are still prominent today. If we could simply follow More’s examples of a perfect society, maybe we could fix most of the problems in the world today. For example, the problem of divorce in our society today is rising and causing unhappy marriages and thus unhappy children. These tensions grow and continuously produce a society of disdain for marriage. If we could follow More’s structure, I believe more marriages would stay together and produce more satisfied family life. Another problem that could be solved using More’s argument is our legal system. Tax payers are basically paying for criminals to remain locked away for years with no bills and free food. These criminals are not being forced to labor in most cases, and thus are not contributing to society. If we follow More’s structure and begin to use the resources wisely, some of the hard labor could be done for us for free. The system More argues for is extremely logical and reasonable and could provide our society with more peace and tolerability for one another, which we are in desperate need
Utopian society views two different types of suicide, ordained and honorable or not ordained and disgraceful. For one “who takes his own life without the approval of priests and senate, they consider unworthy…and throw his body, unburied and disgraced into a bog” (624). Suicide that is not ordained results is the highest form of disdain from others. Euthanasia however, is considered honorable in Utopian society. If a person has an incurable illness, the priests “urge the invalid not to endure such agony any longer” (624). Reasons for euthanasia include being unfit for daily activities and being a burden to keep alive. After “everything possible is done to mitigate the pain,” such invalids are not contributing to society whatsoever and are only living in constant agony (624). As long as the diseased person is ordained by the priest to commit such an act, it is considered honorable; otherwise, they are disgraceful. More presents a society that deals with euthanasia in a reasonable manner; why should someone stay alive if they are only in agony? This avoids human failures by not allowing selfishness by using resources but not contributing to society. More’s argument is logical because in Utopia, humans are used for resources. When a person can no longer be beneficial to society and is taking more resources than they can produce, they have become a burden to take …show more content…
More is simply coming up with a way to practice what all humans hope for, peace. All of the problems that he addresses are still prominent today. If we could simply follow More’s examples of a perfect society, maybe we could fix most of the problems in the world today. For example, the problem of divorce in our society today is rising and causing unhappy marriages and thus unhappy children. These tensions grow and continuously produce a society of disdain for marriage. If we could follow More’s structure, I believe more marriages would stay together and produce more satisfied family life. Another problem that could be solved using More’s argument is our legal system. Tax payers are basically paying for criminals to remain locked away for years with no bills and free food. These criminals are not being forced to labor in most cases, and thus are not contributing to society. If we follow More’s structure and begin to use the resources wisely, some of the hard labor could be done for us for free. The system More argues for is extremely logical and reasonable and could provide our society with more peace and tolerability for one another, which we are in desperate need