The Story of Utopias, by Lewis Mumford,
was one of the most interesting reads on the ideals of utopian beliefs that I
have encountered thus far in my studies of futuristic societies. Before recapping my thoughts on the writing,
I just want to emphasize on how well Mumford uses his words as well as his
metaphors. The way in which he described
proposed ideas was brilliant. “People who will not venture out into the open
sea pay the penalty of never having looked into the bright eyes of danger; and
at best they know but half of life.” He opens
with great descriptions of the types of mental and physical perfection, and how
the pursue of each can lead to any number of creative manifestations toward
utopia. Mumford also argues for the Ayn
Rand aspect of the perfect city by talking about the idea of utopia as being
too mentally perfect. He also states the
idea of a utopian-dystopia, meaning the thought of a utopian world to function
as a dystopia can exist as a utopia. His
arguments also seem to play with the moral tugs between past, failed utopias
and the false reality of creating utopia, while still encouraging the pursuit
of the perfect city by stating, “…but without the magnetic needle we should not
be able to travel intelligently at all. It
is absurd to dispose of utopia by saying that it exists only on paper.” In my opinion, this claims that, to give up
on utopia is to abandon creativity.
Now then,
the definition of utopia, when broken down into its roots, literally means “not
a real place.”
U: not/
beautiful/ imaginary
top: place
ia: named
place
This shows
how the definition can change into several different branches; for example, Thomas
Moore claims utopia means, “the beautiful place.” This shows very true throughout time,
especially with the examples presented in the writing: Pluto vs. Thomas
Moore.
Pluto: 375 B.C.
This ancient
portrayal of a perfect city was based upon communalistic ideals, or everyone
work for everyone. On top of this, he
had a Hitleristic approach to censorship; in order to share tales and stories,
the presentation and wording must be perfect in order to be heard. He also believed the relation between men and
women was strictly based on a procreation level. With this layer of family values in mind,
children would be raised collectively by men and women of the procreating
generation. This then shows how
procreation governs.
Moore: 1516 A.D.
This modern
approach to city perfection is an example of social engineering. This idea has been seen several times through
utopian idealist history. The overall
concept of this portrayal can be put into text as, “Men are not born, but made…” This idea requires everyone to follow their
own religion, and frowns greatly on atheism, primarily due to the Magna Carta. Visual economical class separation is
discouraged as well, meaning that families all appear the same; gray clothing,
governed travel, no jewelry. The idea behind
this strict ruling was that excessiveness is the root of evil. Everything is also fully legislated. Slavery is permitted through land raids,
meaning that a family can keep prisoners for manual labor around their personal
dwelling. Every dwelling also contains
closed gardens and built in work spaces for family reflection and
meditation. To show no class difference
again, families must move every 10 years.
just checking up on peoples' blogs Dan. don't let yourself fall behind on this.
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