What kind of ideas were these “eutopians,” promoting? Why is it perhaps not a coincidence that this desire to rethink the organization of society emerged in the sixteenth century in particular?
Eutopia as a word means: “perfect place.” Eutopia is quite similar in sound and meaning to the word Utopia. The word eutopia usually refers to a society that has no ownership of property, or where everyone shares everything. In this society everything is about equality, there are no classes of people. This idea began to emerge during the 16th century. The eutopians are the individuals who promoted the idea of this society, and added on to that idea. Some of these ideas that these “eutopians,” believed included: everyone works to provide for the community, everything is shared, and there is no need for money. Well these ideas curiously enough sounds’ almost exactly like the view that is commonly known as communism.
But why is it perhaps not a coincidence that this desire to rethink the organization of society emerged in the sixteenth century in particular? The sixteenth century was a unique time because at the time exploration and the discovery of new lands was finally beginning to take off. With this new interest in exploration people in Europe began to hear tales about the people who lived in those far foreign lands, and how those people lived their lives. This gave way to people thinking more “out of the box,” or becoming more curious to new ideas. Thus leading people to see that there was not just one way to do things, including how a society is run.
In short, these were the main ideas that the individuals known as “eutopians,” promoted. Also the reason why this new interest to rethink the organization of society was not a coincidence during the sixteenth century was because at the time exploration to foreign lands was beginning to take off, which gave access to people in Europe to learn about other places and how those other places governed themselves.
The Dreamer 