PHIL 755 Three Ways to Utopia
Human beings time and again have dreamed of an ideal society, often disastrously. In the Republic Plato tried to build a perfect society on the basis of a realist metaphysics and a brilliant (but ultimately flawed, as he himself later realized) theory of human nature. Augustine's view of human nature was darker and induced him to abandon the classical ideal of a good society and concentrate on the moral virtues (so far as they can be achieved) of the good Christian. Thomas More was fascinated by platonizing schemes, but as a hardened Augustinian recognized their inevitable weaknesses. In this course we shall therefore look at Plato's Republic. Augustine's City of God (books 11-end) and More' Utopia. Hopefully we may be able to draw some realistic conclusions.