lit 201 - Utopia - lect 2- week 6

Thomas Moore is a public man. With a public sense of duty. This contrasts starkly with what we later learn of Hythladay. Who, has withdrawn from worldly affairs, has no family, and has arranged his life in such a way that he has no commitments, for philosophy and so that he will never have to compromise his principles. Having describes his own obligations in his letter to Jiles, Moore now casts doubt upon a fact, a minor detail - the length of a bridge. Moore casts doubt on a point of fact.

The second thing we learn in this minor detail is that Hythladay may not be entirely reliable in the details he puts forward. Moore then raises the question of the value of publication - you know if I am going to do all this work is it even worth it to publish it - or is it better to lead a peaceful life and to ignore the vexing problems of publication. Moore says that most readers are hopeless unintelligent ingrates. In other words, what's the point in doing all this? And this is a foreshadowing of the conflict between public obligations on the one hand and the merry peaceful life on the other - which divides, essentially, Moore from Hythladay. Moore by engaging in this work - by agreeing to write it - is engaging the audience and doing exactly what Hythladay would not do. Hythladay refuses to lend his talent and expertise to the public good, all because he says he doesn't want to compromise his values.

If Moore has already inspired the alert reader to question the reliability and integrity of the figure of Hythladay and he does this if he does it at all ironically with excessive praise yet manages not to sound insincere. He has already prior to that raised doubts about Hythladay, Rafael Hythladay. Rafael means messenger of God. Hythladay however, comes from a Latin compound, which means, 'well learned in nonsense'. Now, Moore has said of himself, I am still of two minds. But this apparent conflict in Moore's own personality (it's very minor, it's just a phrase) this pales into insignificance in comparison with Hythladay who is single minded, but it seems duplicitous. He's single minded in the sense that he is driven as an idealist but he is rather deceitful as we'll see. And his name tells us that he is divided, messenger of God yet well learned in nonsense, a contradiction in his name reveals his contradiction in temperament. This idea is advanced early in Book One. When Peter Jiles says that Hythladay is a traveller of the world. Peter Jiles says that he is sought of like Ulysses (Odysseus) or Plato (in the sense of travelling). Odysseus is the man of twists and turns, the artful dodger and manipulator, he is a great liar.

Hythladay comes back and describes Utopia - which is off the map - just like Ulysses did. Hythladay's integrity is probed even further by Moore the author. For Hythladay claims in fact to have travelled on Vespuci's fourth voyage (florentine explorer to the Americas, norton anthology page 525 in the note) Now Moore's readers would have recognised that is was impossible that Hythladay sailed and travelled on Vespuci's fourth voyage - the reason because is that there was no fourth voyage - it was a publishers lie to sell more books - so Moore's readers realise that this is another moment where Hythladay is exposed as being unreliable. At the very least we must acknowledge a discrepancy of the views of Hythladay and those of Moore, both the author and the character. The Socratic or platonic dialogue makes sense only whe the reader understands the nature of each interlocutor.

So these seemingly minor details that reveal nonetheless extraordinary things about these characters must be paid attention to.

Moore's work is the first utopian text in the Western Canon since The Republic. So it converses with this work usually indirectly. Plato engages with a series of issues in The Republic. The dialogue form that Plato uses is not simply an exchanging of ideas with no form or motive. They are trying to arrive at the truth - in the case of The Republic - they are trying to come to a definition of justice. Plato asks questions so as to bring his interlocutor to the truth and this is the role that Moore plays in the Utopia.

Augustine's work - City of God - influenced Moore. Augustine cautions against a belief of perfectability in this life and therefore the possibility of arriving at a heaven on Earth, a Utopia. There is a fruitful tension then because man should work towards a just society based on the fruits of the Gospel. So on one hand we must acknowledge that man cannot build a perfect society, but on the other hand man must always strive and work for a more just and equitable society.

But nonetheless there is a tension there. We need to recognise what all totalitarian regimes fail to recognise - that mankind can not be hammered or made to fit into a mould at the expense of his freedom - and in fact the great irony, the tragic irony, exemplified in the 20th century by these states, who believed that they could create heaven on earth, actually created hell on earth.

In Book One Moore immediately grounds the work in a contemporary time. Hythladay targets Moore in saying that the philosopher should not be involved in public affairs. Hythladay describes two situations: Poverty, and being spoiled.

He explains that if he advised a King, the King would not listen. If he gave advice that was not easy to take, he would be hated. Hythladay concludes that there is no place for philosophy in the council of kings.

Moore responds: Yes there is, but not for this school philosophy that supposes that every topic is suitable for every situation. He is saying that you have to choose the right moment, the appropriate time and place, to make your point. You don't just walk in and start lecturing the king. You have to do your job subtly, you have to use diplomacy to advance your ideas.

Hythloday responds that the position Moore holds is a justification for telling lies.

Rudaf's approach is essentially psychological: Hythladay is only interested in his peace and quiet. He tries to give us a credible excuse to live a life without duties. What he actually fails to realise, or more likely, actually wishes for, is a calypsoic oblivion. An oblivion to the responsibilities that people face in society.

A Utopia is a state of absolute uniformity.