Utopia

Utopia, in its most common and general positive meaning, refers to the human efforts to create a better society, a perfect society that does not exist (yet).

Basics of Utopia

Utopia's Family

Adjective - utopian:

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: According to Oxford dictionary, it is usually used negatively to criticise proposals or ideas having or aiming for a level of perfection of utopia which is impossible or very difficult to achieve.

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Noun - utopian:

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: The word utopian can be used as a noun to mean someone who imagines or proposes or supports a utopia.

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Derivation of utopia

The term utopia was coined by Thomas More as the title of his Latin book De Optimo Reipublicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia (circa 1516), known more commonly as Utopia. You can read the original text here, in the wikisource.

Related Topics:
Thomas More - Latin - De Optimo Reipublicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia - 1516 - Wikisource

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The term "utopia"" is combined from 2 Greek words - "not" (ou) and "place" (topos), thus meaning "nowhere". He created the word "utopia" to suggest two Greek neologisms simultaneously: outopia (no place) and eutopia (good place). In this original context, the word carried none of the modern connotations associated with it.

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Related terms

• Anti-utopia questions the moral or practical validity of utopias
• Dystopia is a negative utopia.
• Eutopia is a positive utopia, roughly equivalent to the regular use of the word "utopia".
• Heterotopia, the "other place", with its real and imagined possibilities (a mix of "utopian" escapism and turning virtual possibilities into reality) - example: cyberspace.

Other subcategories include Arcadias and Cockaygnes. Ruth Levitas is one who has developed such a categorisation.

Related Topics:
Arcadia - Cockaygne - Ruth Levitas

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