I went to a Catholic school, a place of strict discipline. The only rules I ever broke were regarding the dress code. I asked my very intelligent teacher why she was wasting so much energy over my untucked shirt. What difference did it make how I wore my shirt? Was a dress code just a way to make us conform? She said everyone needs something to rebel against, and it is safer to rebel against a dress code than something else.
It's something to think about... "Talking nonsense is the sole privilege mankind possesses over the other organisms." -Dostoevsky
I suppose the problem is that some people thrive in a highly structured, highly disciplined environment, and some do not. And the point is, IMO, ensuring people can thrive. "Talking nonsense is the sole privilege mankind possesses over the other organisms." -Dostoevsky
More got that right, it seems. Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith
Utopia, with the subtitle On the best state of a republic and on the new island of Utopia (Latin: Dē optimō reī pūblicae statű dēque novā īnsulā Ūtopiā), is a 1516 book by Sir Saint Thomas More. The book, written in Latin, is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. The name of the island is derived from the Greek words ou (οὐ), "not", and tópos (τόπος), "place", with the suffix -ía (-ία) that is typical of toponyms; hence Outopía (Οὐτοπία; Latinized as Ūtopia, with stress on the second syllable), "no-place land, non-existing place." It should be noticed that, in English, Utopia is pronounced exactly as Eutopia (the latter word, in Greek Εὐτοπία [Eutopía], meaning "good place," contains the prefix εὐ- [eu-], "good", with which the οὐ of Utopia has come to be confused in English pronunciation).[1] This something that More himself addresses in an addendum to his book Wherfore not Utopie, but rather rightely my name is Eutopie, a place of felicitie.[2] One interpretation holds that this suggests that while Utopia might be some sort of perfected society, it is ultimately unreachable. Despite modern connotations of the word "utopia," it is widely accepted that the society More describes in this work was not actually his own "perfect society." Rather he wished to use the contrast between the imaginary land's unusual political ideas and the chaotic politics of his own day as a platform from which to discuss social issues in Europe.
It should be noticed that, in English, Utopia is pronounced exactly as Eutopia (the latter word, in Greek Εὐτοπία [Eutopía], meaning "good place," contains the prefix εὐ- [eu-], "good", with which the οὐ of Utopia has come to be confused in English pronunciation).[1] This something that More himself addresses in an addendum to his book Wherfore not Utopie, but rather rightely my name is Eutopie, a place of felicitie.[2]
One interpretation holds that this suggests that while Utopia might be some sort of perfected society, it is ultimately unreachable.
Despite modern connotations of the word "utopia," it is widely accepted that the society More describes in this work was not actually his own "perfect society." Rather he wished to use the contrast between the imaginary land's unusual political ideas and the chaotic politics of his own day as a platform from which to discuss social issues in Europe.
But whatever your idea of Utopia is, once you achieve it, ... what comes after? Is that a dangerous idea? I think it might be.
Shhhh...poemless...have you never heard of "happily ever after?" It's the invisible hand at work again...
