Utopias

The name given to an ideal political community, “Utopia,” comes from Thomas More’s work Utopia which was published in Latin in 1516. What is interesting about many conceptions of utopian communities is that the authors assumed that without free markets and private property there would be an absence of conflict and greater prosperity.

For further reading on this topic see:

• J.C. Davis, Utopia and the Ideal Society: A Study of English Utopian Writing, 1516-1700 (Cambridge University Press, 1983).
• F.A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism,” Studies in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (University of Chicago Press, 1967), pp. 178-194.
• Kingsley Widmer, “Utopia and Liberty: Some Contemporary Issues within their Intellectual Traditions,” Literature of Liberty, vol. IV, no. 4, Winter 1981.