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The [[word]] comes from the [[Greek]]: οὐ, "not", and τόπος, "place", indicating that More was utilizing the concept as [[allegory]] and did not consider such an ideal place to be realistically possible. The English [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophone homophone] Eutopia (/juˈtoʊpiə/), derived from the [[Greek]] εὖ, "good" or "well", and τόπος, "place", signifies a double [[meaning]].

The [[word]] comes from the [[Greek]]: οὐ, "not", and τόπος, "place", indicating that More was utilizing the concept as [[allegory]] and did not consider such an ideal place to be realistically possible. The English [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophone homophone] Eutopia (/juˈtoʊpiə/), derived from the [[Greek]] εὖ, "good" or "well", and τόπος, "place", signifies a double [[meaning]].

 

More's Utopia is largely based on Plato's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_(Plato) Republic]. It is a perfect version of Republic wherein the [[beauties]] of society reign (eg: [[equality]] and a general pacifist [[attitude]]), although its [[citizens]] are all ready to fight if need be. The [[evils]] of society, eg: poverty and misery, are all removed. It has few [[laws]], no lawyers and rarely sends its citizens to [[war]], but hires mercenaries from among its war-prone neighbors (these mercenaries were deliberately sent into dangerous situations in the [[hope]] that the more warlike [[populations]] of all surrounding countries will be weeded out, leaving peaceful peoples). The society [[encourages]] [[tolerance]] of all [[religions]]. Some [[readers]] have chosen to accept this imaginary society as the realistic blueprint for a working nation, while others have postulated More intended nothing of the sort. Some maintain the position that More's Utopia [[functions]] only on the level of a satire, a work intended to reveal more about the England of his time than about an idealistic society. This [[interpretation]] is bolstered by the title of the book and nation, and its apparent equivocation between the Greek for "no place" and "good place": "Utopia" is a compound of the syllable ou-, meaning "no", and topos, meaning place. But the homonymous prefix eu-, meaning "[[good]]," also resonates in the word, with the implication that the perfectly "good place" is really "no place."

More's Utopia is largely based on Plato's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_(Plato) Republic]. It is a perfect version of Republic wherein the [[beauties]] of society reign (eg: [[equality]] and a general pacifist [[attitude]]), although its [[citizens]] are all ready to fight if need be. The [[evils]] of society, eg: poverty and misery, are all removed. It has few [[laws]], no lawyers and rarely sends its citizens to [[war]], but hires mercenaries from among its war-prone neighbors (these mercenaries were deliberately sent into dangerous situations in the [[hope]] that the more warlike [[populations]] of all surrounding countries will be weeded out, leaving peaceful peoples). The society [[encourages]] [[tolerance]] of all [[religions]]. Some [[readers]] have chosen to accept this imaginary society as the realistic blueprint for a working nation, while others have postulated More intended nothing of the sort. Some maintain the position that More's Utopia [[functions]] only on the level of a satire, a work intended to reveal more about the England of his time than about an idealistic society. This [[interpretation]] is bolstered by the title of the book and nation, and its apparent equivocation between the Greek for "no place" and "good place": "Utopia" is a compound of the syllable ou-, meaning "no", and topos, meaning place. But the homonymous prefix eu-, meaning "[[good]]," also resonates in the word, with the implication that the perfectly "good place" is really "no place."