the ideal world essay

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What Is the Ideal World? 5 Utopias Proposed by Famous Philosophers

What is the ideal world? Is it a utopia where everyone is happy and has no material problems? Or is it something else?

What would an ideal world look like? Most of us would agree that an ideal world is a place where everyone can live in peace and harmony; a place where there is no poverty or hunger, and where all people have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer to this question as it is, at least to some degree, a matter of personal opinion.

Some believe that the ideal state is one where everyone is happy and content with their lives. Others may think that the ideal state is one where there is perfect harmony and balance between all individuals and groups. Ultimately, what constitutes an ideal state depends on the values and beliefs we prioritize. In this article, we’ll take a look at the ideal world according to five famous philosophers: Plato, Thomas More, Campanella, Burke, and Godwin. We will explore what they believe the perfect world would look like and what it takes to get there.

1. Plato’s Ideal World: A Perfectly Balanced State

The theory of the ideal state is most fully represented by Plato in the  Republic,  and it was further developed in the  Laws . According to Plato, true political art is the art of saving and educating the soul; therefore, he puts forward the thesis that true philosophy coincides with true politics. Only if a politician becomes a philosopher (and vice versa) can a true state be built based on the highest values of the Truth and the Good.

The ideal state, according to Plato, like the soul, has a tripartite structure. Following this tripartite structure (management, protection, and production of material goods), the population is divided into three classes: producers or workers, auxiliaries, and guardians or soldiers. A fair state structure should ensure their harmonious coexistence.

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The first and “lowest” class is formed from people whose lustful tendencies prevail. The second, protective class of people is formed from people in whom the strong-willed principle prevails. They feel a watchful duty and are vigilant against both internal and external danger. If the virtue of moderation and a kind of love for order and discipline prevails in a person, then they can be part of the most worthy class of people, and it is those who are meant to manage the state.

According to Plato, only aristocrats are called to govern the state as the best and most wise citizens. Rulers should be those who know how to love their City more than others and who can fulfill their duty with the greatest zeal. Most importantly, these rulers need to know how to recognize and contemplate the Good. In other words, the rational principle prevails in them, and they can rightfully be called “sages”.

So, a perfect state is the one in which the workers are guided by moderation, the military by courage and strength, and the ruling class by wisdom.

The concept of justice in an ideal state is based on the idea that everyone does what they have to do; it concerns the citizens in the City in analogy with the parts of the soul in the soul. Justice in the outer world is manifested only when it is also present in the soul. Therefore, in a perfect City, the education and upbringing of citizens must be perfect, and this education will have to be tailored to each class in a specific way.

Plato attaches great importance to the education of guards as an active part of the population from which rulers emerge. Education worthy of rulers had to combine practical skills with the development of philosophy. The purpose of education is to give a model that the ruler should use in an effort to embody this Good in the state.

In  the Republic  Plato states that living in an ideal world is not as important as it might seem. It can be good enough to live according to the laws of this City, that is, according to the laws of the Good, Truth, and Justice. After all, before appearing in reality externally, that is, in history, the Platonic City is first born inside people themselves.

2. The Utopian Wonder Island by Thomas More

Utopia   by Thomas More , written in 1516, is the book that gave the name to the corresponding genre in literature and the new model of the ideal world. More’s Utopia is an island nation. The king rules in this state, but the highest administrative positions are elected. The problem, however, is that every citizen of Utopia is tightly tied to their professional corporation, which means they have no chance of gaining access to management.

Since the rulers are very far-removed from the people, there is no single thought-out ideology or religion on the island: belief in a single deity is preferred, but everyone is free to think through the “details” at their own discretion. You can be Christian or a pagan. It cannot be said that some Gods are better than others or that no Gods exist at all.

There is no money and private property on the island. Organized distribution of goods has completely supplanted free trade, and instead of the labor market, there is a universal labor service. Utopians do not work very hard, but only because enslaved people do the dirty and hard work. The islanders enslave their citizens as punishment for shameful acts; alternatively, foreigners awaiting execution for a crime they committed can also be enslaved.

Under these conditions, no aesthetic diversity is possible: the life of one family is no different from the life of another; language, customs, institutions, laws, houses, and even the layout of cities throughout the island are the same.

Of course, the project of the English writer was never realized, but some of its features are easy to recognize in contemporary states. These similarities are not due to funny coincidences, but due to universal patterns. For example, More believed that rejecting private property inevitably led to a cultural unification – something that can be observed in states where private property was limited in some way. Another obvious insight we can take from More’s utopia is the following: without a technological breakthrough, it is possible to reduce the labor load for some citizens only by super-exploiting others.

3. The City of the Sun  by Tommaso Campanella

The ideal world model of Tommaso Campanella’s  City of the Sun   is perhaps the most famous and most “totalitarian” of all utopias. In the  City of the Sun , according to the utopian idea, all kinds of teaching aids were to be depicted right on the walls: trees, animals, celestial bodies, minerals, rivers, seas, and mountains.

All troubles, all crimes, Campanella believed, came from two things – from private property and from the family. Therefore, in the City of the Sun, everything is a common good, and monogamous marriage and the right of parents to have a child are declared a relic of the past. “Solariums”, these new utopian citizens, always work together, they eat only in common dining rooms, and sleep in shared bedrooms.

The ideas of democracy are alien to solariums. A caste of priest-scientists leads the city: the high priest, named Metaphysician or the Sun, and his co-rulers – Power, Wisdom, and Love. Nobody chooses them; on the contrary, the supreme rulers appoint all the lower-lever leaders, priests-scholars of the lowest rank.

Science is the religion of solariums. The goal of their life is to climb the steps of rational knowledge. And it is built in strict accordance with scientific principles, which, in turn, are applied to everyday empiricism by priests.

At the top of the temple are twenty-four priests who, at midnight, at noon, morning, and evening, four times a day, sing psalms to God. They must observe the stars, mark their movements with the aid of an astrolabe, and study their powers and effects on human affairs. By doing this they know what changes have occurred or are about to occur in certain areas of the earth and at what time. They determine the best times for fertilization, the days of sowing, harvesting; they are, in a sense, transmitters and a link between God and people.

You might read this description and think: what is wrong with this harmonious system? Where does it fail? Why is a society governed by scientists and based on science not viable? One could argue that the City of the Sun is not a utopia because a person cannot be happy without the opportunity to be alone with themselves, with their wife/husband, children, favorite things, and even their sins. Like any other utopia that forgoes private property, Campanella’s utopia deprives a person of this type of happiness.

4. Burke’s Conservative Utopia

Edmund Burke is the founder of the ideology of conservatism . His  Vindication of Natural Society  is the first conservative utopia. It was written by Burke in response to Viscount Henry Bolingbroke’s  Letters on the Study and Use of History , in which the latter attacked the Church. Burke, interestingly, does not defend the institutions of religion, but the institutions of the state, showing that there is as much sense in their elimination as in the elimination of church institutions.

The philosopher resorts to an ironic form of presentation of an ideal world. He describes every form of government known to humanity. Burke says that all of them – in direct or roundabout ways – lead a person to slavery. Therefore, he suggests, let’s abandon the state and live according to the laws of a “natural society.” If political society, whatever form it may take, has already turned the majority into the property of a few and has led to the emergence of exploitative forms of work, vices, and diseases, then should we continue to worship such a harmful idol and sacrifice our health and freedom to it?

Burke believes that a completely different picture is observed in the state of nature. There is no need for anything that nature provides. In such a state, a person cannot experience any other needs than those that can be satisfied by very moderate work, and, therefore, there is no slavery. There is no luxury here either because no one alone can create the things necessary for it. Life is simple and, therefore, happy.

However, Burke is ironic. His point of view lies precisely in the fact that no development of society is possible without historical continuity, without relying on already existing political, social, and religious institutions. For him, the existing state is natural, and any revolutionary project that breaks social reality is artificial.

5. Godwin’s Anarchist Utopia

Many ignored Burke’s irony and seriously considered him as a theoretician of anarchism . One such person was William Godwin , inventor of the first real anarchist utopia. In the opening part of his  Enquiry Concerning   Political Justice , he mostly paraphrases Burke, and in the second, he offers a positive program.

At the center of Godwin’s ideal worldview is the individual, whose entire behavior is determined by reason. A society can only be healthy if it is built on the principles of reason. There is only one truth, which means that the true structure of society is only one. It is hardly worth looking for this arrangement in the past because the whole history of humanity is a history of crimes. It is a history of state violence against an individual. And not only the state, but in general, everything that enslaves the mind imposes a unifying norm on it.

An ideal person in Godwin’s worldview is the eternal “enemy of the state”. Godwin believes that humanity is waiting for a New Era where small and self-sufficient communities populated by new people will replace states.

So, What Is The Ideal World? 

It’s a question that many people have asked over the centuries, and no single answer has satisfied everyone. In this article, we looked at five different perspectives on the ideal state from famous philosophers. Each of them had their own idea about what constituted a perfect world and how to get there. While their views differed in some ways, they all agreed that striving for something better than the world we live in today was important. And to get there, we’ll need to change our ways and work together towards a common goal.

Plato’s Philosophy: 10 Breakthroughs That Contributed to Society

By Viktoriya Sus MA Philosophy Viktoriya is a writer from L’viv, Ukraine. She has knowledge about the main thinkers. In her free time, she loves to read books on philosophy and analyze whether ancient philosophical thought is relevant today. Besides writing, she loves traveling, learning new languages, and visiting museums.

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What is the Ideal World According to Famous Philosophers?

What is your perfect world? Most people would agree this ideal world would be free of hunger, poverty, discrimination, and violence, other details about the world aren't as readily agreed on. The question of what this world would look like is one of the most contentious questions in philosophy. From Plato's Republic to Thomas More's Utopia , philosophers have dedicated entire books to their vision of an ideal world. This article will explore five of these philosophical visions.

Plato's Three Part State

According to Plato, the first step to building an ideal state was having philosophers in charge. He argued that true philosophy and true politics go together. Politicians must be philosophers to create a state built on high values of Truth and the Good. Plato wrote about his ideal state in his book The Republic and later in his work The Laws.

Plato's vision for an ideal world starts with people fulfilling their role in society and doing what Plato believes they have to do. A society, according to Plato, is a structure with three parts, including management, protection, and production of material goods. The population of a society has three classes: workers, soldiers, and the ruling class. In a fair society, each group works together for a harmonious state.

Plato had particular moral views about the character of each person in each class. The lowest class of people, the workers, were people whose lustful tendencies prevailed. The second class of people would be dutiful and dedicated to being vigilant against internal and external dangers. The ruling class had the wisest and most virtuous people who acted with reason.

Plato stressed the importance of education for each class, tailored to their role in society. First and foremost, Plato believed justice started inside people themselves. This was necessary to build a just city.

Thomas More's Utopia

The word "utopia" might come to mind when you think about an ideal world. Thomas More was the first person to use "utopia". His 1516 book, Utopia, is a model of an ideal world on an island nation. In Utopia , More sets up a society where people and the ruling class live very different lives. People are stuck in their professional roles at corporations and cannot gain more power. One of the main draws to his utopia is that everyone has complete freedom of religion . There is no single thought-out ideology. This desire for religious freedom was a reflection of England's situation at the time More wrote this book. More lived at a time when religion divided people, and his ideal society eliminated this division.

Burke's Conservatism

Edmund Burke was another philosopher who envisioned a utopia. As the founder of conservatism , his Vindication of Natural Society outlines the first conservative utopia. According to Burke, all forms of government lead an individual to slavery . He points to examples such as exploitative forms of work, vices, and diseases that have emerged because of state rule. Burke believed that under the rule of a government, our health and freedom are sacrificed to the state. To solve this problem, Burke advocates abandoning the state and living in a "natural society." When the state is gone, he believes that a person can live off of what nature provides. This erases the need for exploitative work and slavery. The kind of life Burke advocates for is simple, without any luxuries. However, he believed this simple world would make most people happy.

Godwin's Anarchy

William Godwin's vision for an ideal society arose from ideas of anarchy. He believed that the monarchy was a corrupt system of government. Throughout human history, he saw a relationship of violence between the state and the individual. Usually, the state constricted human growth in its attempt to control people. Godwin wanted a simpler, community-based system of government that was egalitarian .

Reason was the core principle of Godwin' ideal society. While people don't always act rationally, Godwin argued that when they don't, it is because of social conditioning. Changing these systemic issues would change the evil actions of the person. People would naturally do what seems right in their own eyes and this would eventually lead to doing what is suitable for the community. According to Godwin, this was proof that people live by reason. This reason could build a healthy, egalitarian society. Godwin's ultimate ideal world vision included free-thinking people living in self-governed, self-sufficient communities, which would replace the need for the state.

Leibniz: We Are Already in The Best World

While many philosophers argued there was a better possible version of the world, there are some philosophers who didn't believe an ideal world exists. One of these philosophers was Gottfried Leibniz. His philosophy was that the existing world is the best world that God could have created. His philosophy is sometimes known as Leibnizian optimism.

Leibniz built his argument that we are already in the best possible world on the assumption that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. He believed that since God created the existing world, and he is all-powerful in every way, he chose to create the best possible world. Leibniz also believed that God could have chosen not to create a world at all. Therefore, this world must have been the best possible option. Leibniz also questioned whether a less evil world was even imaginable. A world that seems more ideal might include a greater form of evil.

Which Philosophy is True?

Now that you have learned a bit about what and ideal world would look like, consider what the right answer is. Do you agree with Plato's three-tiered society? Or do you envision Godwin's self-sufficient anarchy as the perfect world? Maybe you have a different idea of what the ideal world looks like. There is no objective answer about what the ideal world looks like. This is part of what makes discussing this question so interesting. Reflecting on this question forces us to confront the areas of society we want to improve. It also helps us understand ourselves.

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My Ideal World Essay & Paragraphs For Students

As a kid, I loved imagining what the perfect world would be like. In this essay, I will describe my vision for an ideal place where everyone is happy and things work smoothly. One day, real life could be just as great as the world in my head.

Table of Contents

Essay On My Ideal World

In my ideal world, there would be no bullying or rude behavior between people. (Topic sentence) Everyone would treat each other with kindness like best friends do. No one would feel left out or made fun of, so confidence and teamwork could reign supreme instead of nasty attitudes. With smiles as currency, who would not want to get up each morning in such a light-filled land?

Fair Rules and Leaders

Another key part of my ideal place involves leaders focused on the greater good. Laws and guidelines would unite communities by being reasonable, not overbearing. (Transition) Listening to citizens and compromising would solve problems, not force. (Topic sentence) Leaders lead by moral example, so trust between governance and people could eliminate corruption. Civic participation empowers all voices while shared hope for the future ties society close.

A Clean Environment

My perfect world also cares deeply for the natural realm, providing for our needs and wants. Clean water, fresh air and healthy soil maintain a sustainable balance. (Transition) Eco-initiatives create green jobs while renewing resources for generations ahead to discover nature’s beauty. (Topic sentence) Respecting inhabitants, big and small, teaches humanity that nature’s wonders come with caring for all. Together as stewards, our earth and its inhabitants thrive prosperously as one community joined in hands.

Advanced Technology

Though simple in ways, technological progress moves society closer to my ideal, with discoveries improving lives every day. Medical breakthroughs cure illness; efficient cars run on air. Machines handle labor so creativity and relationships can blossom freely. (Transition) However, nature remains treasured, and machines serve not to overtake humankind. Online worlds unite distant friends while safeguarding privacy. Advances enhance life’s experiences when guided with wisdom.

Lasting Peace

Most of all, peace would exist between all people and nations in a perfect world. Cooperation overcomes squabbling over perceived differences for the sake of shared hopes. (Topic sentence) Understanding, compassion and nonviolence resolve conflicts, so energy focuses on mutual interests like science, arts and exploration. Without fear of harm, the fullest potential of the human spirit could flourish across borders as one.

In closing, while still just a dream, envisioning an ideal world motivates making real life closer bit by bit. With effort gradually shifting perspectives on what moves society ahead harmoniously, one day, compassion will be reality’s common currency where all people’s voices and inherent worth ring clear. I hope such a world might pass through each small act of kindness.

Hello! Welcome to my Blog StudyParagraphs.co. My name is Angelina. I am a college professor. I love reading writing for kids students. This blog is full with valuable knowledge for all class students. Thank you for reading my articles.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Making The World a Better Place — My Perfect World: An Exploration of Utopian Ideals

My Perfect World: an Exploration of Utopian Ideals

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Introduction, environmental sustainability, economic and political stability, social justice, personal and social growth.

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Question of the Month

What would make the best society, the following answers to this central philosophical question each win a random book..

The closest to perfection would be an interdependent Confederation of societies, each containing between one and two hundred citizens, depending upon factors such as location and climate. These villages would be more or less evenly distributed across the globe, having access to roughly equivalent amounts of arable land. Thirty per cent of all land would be designated wilderness, and no societies would be allowed to colonise these areas, but antisocial individuals would be free to inhabit the wilderness following a life-style of total lonesomeness.

Each society would be run according to a consensus of members, on a Rousseauian model of full participation of all members over 14 and council decree. Dissenting members will be invited to move to alternative societies, set up their own on land proportionate to the size of the dissenting group, or to take to the wilderness. Councils may legislate on shared interests, but there will be no laws restricting private activities provided these do not infringe upon the same freedoms of others.

Whilst each society would decide its own rules, the Confederation would respect a universal constitution according to which no-one can own anything they have not made. Communal products could be exchanged freely amongst individuals or between societies. There would be no money, and no hoarding of mutually-owned resources, on pain of banishment to the wilderness. Every year there would be a Global Festival of Gratitude and Giving, during which gifts would be freely exchanged and art, music, dances and games would celebrate and renew the freedom of the Earth from human domination.

According to the constitution, animals culled from the wild may be eaten during the winter in cold climates and during illness. But there would be no domestication or other infringement upon the freedom of animals. Killing would be allowed only if human life is in danger, or to stabilize populations and environmental harmony. All waste would be recycled, and energy derived only from renewable sources such as wind and tide.

If one society threatens aggression against another, the Global Confederation would boycott it for 50 years. Members would be invited to join alternative societies, but may emigrate only to one that has received no other members of the rogue society. All political relationships will be entirely internal to each society and there would be no alliances formed between societies. Societies attempting to form political allegiances or extend their power beyond their own members will be boycotted. Individuals would be free to travel to and form relationships with individuals of other societies, but any group growing too large for its arable resources would have to redistribute.

Helen Williams, Coley Sirgar, Swansea

The perfect society would be one in which everybody got whatever they wanted. Obviously, this is impossible to achieve. So we can only strive for the best possible society. This logically would be the one in which everyone got as much of what they want as it is possible to equitably achieve. Achieving this would be the equivalent of finding the lines of best fit through a series of points for various graphs. For example, if we all have different opinions about the ideal length of a working day, then in the best society the length of the working day would be the mean of all our ideals. Generally, in the best possible society, all parameters would be set at the average of our individual ideals about that thing. It won’t be the perfect society for anyone, but on the whole, it’ll be the least bad for everyone.

Clearly, there are some huge practical difficulties to achieving this society – so huge as to render the full achievement of it an impossibility. Nevertheless, it is an ideal we can work towards. Indeed, it would seem that society is slowly moving in this direction. The biggest step we have taken in many countries towards this society of the average is the democratic election of leaders – and as our administrations become more transparent and accountable, populations are able to exert greater pressure on their governments to act more in line with the collective will. We can imagine in the not too distant future being able to register our views online and by phone; and thus we will be able to easily and rapidly vote on many more issues than we do currently. Just as we now vote on X-Factor , we might soon be voting on important political issues: where reality TV is currently leading the way, genuine reality will follow on behind. So the best society would involve a whole lot more reality TV.

Kevin Andrew, Tadcaster, North Yorkshire

There will be no government as we currently know it. Government is overkill. We’ve tried it, and for the most part it has failed. Mostly, government is about manipulating political and economic power. It does not produce a good society. To quote Henry David Thoreau in On Civil Disobedience : “I heartily accept the motto, ‘That government is best which governs least’; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically… [further] ‘That government is best which governs not at all’.” There may be courts to mediate disputes. These disputes will be limited to the basics: the only laws needed are laws concerning basic decency and respect, following this formula: No killing or hurting another person or damaging their property. This would included ecological destruction, which damages everyone.

Each local community will cooperate with as many or few other communities as it chooses: nothing will ever be forced. Each communities will produce what it needs. Factories will be owned by the workers, and excess profits will go to support the needed services and the well-being of the community, further excess going to greater projects benefiting the wider world. No community should number more than a few thousand. Any system over a million people will always fail; a community kept under 10,000 will likely succeed. No community will be able to possess the manpower or wealth to threaten other communities.

Kraig Mottar, by Email

The best society would not penalise people, working or not, for disabilities or mental illness. This is not their fault. It would transform its idea of beauty from the Platonically idealistic, discarding ‘ideal forms’ for forms that are both realistic and which embrace humanity’s highest aspirations. Life chances would be evenly distributed rather than a concentrated in the 20-65 age range. No longer would people be thrown on the scrap-heap for being ill, disabled, too old etc: rather, there would be a just way of distributing resources to all. This could be implemented in various ways to adjust to society’s changing needs.

This society would be rights-based but not ignore the need for cultural deviation from norms. Democracy would be a norm; but global society would be wide enough to embrace it in different forms. There may need to be an anarchic element; but educational systems should also help people through life at every step. Big Business would be required to act with equity with regard to product quality and customer service. It would not be so easy to inflict disabilities on people via various ‘suffering pipelines’ such as the army, drug damage, etc: but neither would unjust blame be put on people/companies/societies. Unfortunately, suffering would still exist because the physical world is in a fundamental state of increasing entropy, ie disorganisation.

The general principle is that there would be a massive healing of society in terms of its function and functionality . However, social function would be tempered with endless creativity and lots of fun. Society would not be cut on ‘utilitarian’ lines, in the sense of people being shoehorned into the most financially profitable but emotionally profitless careers; instead everybody would be able to develop their capabilities and talents. Thus in this society people would be able to fulfil roles at their level of abilities without ruling out their potential to completely jump out of the box!

Kate Hillier, Colchester, Essex

The best society would be run by nurses. Nurses are the caring profession; theirs is an ethics of caring that will see you from the cradle to the other place.

Just think – all of them with PhDs in caring, taking collegiate responsibility for everything. Thus all waste products wiped up efficiently and carefully disposed of. Similarly, firstly there will be potty training of the finest calibre (warm but directive) even for the potential obsessives in adult life, who will have the best in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, possibly even by the same nurses – like learning, caring is a lifelong thing, a vocation! And for the psychological dissonances, there will be an empathic ear, an emotional ‘hand’ held tightly, unconditional positive regard!

Nurses, of course, need not be paid handsomely. Having long allowed their consciences to go beyond things like money or self-advancement, they would be the mainstay of a low-cost society. All care would be delivered in the local community, but given sufficient numbers of nurses, bicycles should be all that’s necessary. This would also have the beneficial effect of inducing contentment by provoking images of ‘the good old days’.

It might of course be crossing your mind to ask, What about the non-nurses? Well, in a post-capitalist, Nursist world it only remains for people to be cared for – indeed, to have an entitlement to it: most will carry a ‘cared for’ ration book to be filled in with dates, types, and depths of caring, when last cared for, and so on. The awkward question of what people care about has not yet been resolved, but is being fully discussed by the Nursing Administrative Board.

Due to the huge increase in the techniques of caring, plus, it must be said, a smidgeon of threat – ie, “there’s more than one way in which we can ‘care’ for you” – non-compliance in the new society would mostly be a thing of the past. For the small few who insist on self-assertion, there will be well-developed virtual reality alternatives. Here recalcitrants can be placed in a virtual helmet, where they will remain sweet. Consistent with virtual ethics, they must not be abandoned to their ‘other world’, and specially-trained carers will always be at hand to coax them back to reality. Nobody goes without in nursing world.

Liam Clarke, Brighton University

What would make the best society? An aggregate of people living together in a harmonious community with common values and customs . But although this appears an acceptable definition, harmony is a difficult if not impossible state to achieve in society, and the maintenance of harmony invariably impedes the achievement of individual ideals. So this definition is nothing more than an unachievable ideal.

Philosophy has long been a defender of this impossible ideal, yet it seems that many are still confused by the nature of the notion: an ideal may be desirable but wholly unobtainable, especially if it concerns social matters. Plato reported such an unreachable ideal in the Republic , as did More and Bacon; and it is disparaging to their works if one thinks they were so na ïve as to believe that what they wrote could be actualised. Yet people still criticise their work on just this basis.

Maybe a poet could better portray the way things are. D.H. Lawrence says of love: “We have pushed a process into a goal.” Love is an ideal we all wish to acquire; but as Lawrence says, it’s a process not a goal, and to believe it is something to acquire is actually a fallacy. We do not fall in love to reach something and then stop: love is ongoing. So too must we understand social improvement as a process, for if we begin to view the ideal society as a thing we can create, then we’re accepting that we’ll reach a point at which we can go no further, no longer improve. Instead then, we must formulate an ideal and work towards it, knowing that its perfect implementation is unattainable. At least we will be moving in the right direction.

With all this in mind, I offer up the suggestion that we work towards a society where due to advances in technology no one works any more – allowing us to sit around discussing philosophy, eating fine food and drinking fine wine!

Christopher Burr, Southbourne, Dorset

There are two broad categories of society: narcissistic and outward-looking . The first typically involves a search for peace, harmony and pleasure. Fine as these are, the prospect of nothing else until the Heat Death of the universe lacks something. I prefer the more outward-looking search for meaning . This has been approached through religion, which is unfortunately stuck in the Middle Ages. Philosophy has made some technical advances here, but on the big questions we have not advanced beyond the ancient Greeks, who were also the inventors of every modern political system. Advances in art follow technology: a Stone Age Beethoven would not have produced symphonies, as he lacked the orchestra, whose instruments are the products of technological knowledge.

In fact, the only direction in which any substantial advances have been made is through science: so the best society would be one conscientiously advancing through science. This not a new departure, as we are already doing this to some extent – we have already split the atom and put men on the moon.

Science advances through individuals: the Newtons, Darwins and Einsteins formulating new ways of looking at the world; followed by periods of consolidation, which form the basis for the next genius to emerge. There is no formula for producing geniuses, who seem to appear at random, but history does give us a lead. They do not often come from the governing classes, who are busy politicking to maintain status. They do not often come from the bottom of society either, as these are too busy struggling for survival and usually lack the education. Innovation is a middle class affair, and to a great extent so is the consolidation process. The Western mode of society has a proven track record in providing a middle class environment, so its world-wide introduction would therefore be recommended. Unfortunately, ecologists tell us that we’d need the resources of three Earths to bring our present six billion up to a Western lifestyle – so to speed the plough of progress we need to remember Malthus and put quality of life before our present witless chase of quantity.

G.E. Haines, Woodbridge, Suffolk

The best society would exist when a common concern for the collective became intrinsic to individual priorities and choices. It would also be in harmony with the environment. Poverty, disease, warfare and crime would be things of the past.

Such a society would be the result of a collective freedom of thought that had disentangled itself from doom religions, dead philosophies and greedy politicians. The conscious and subconscious fallacies embedded in the primitive mind by the assertions of those taken to be superior would be finally put to rest, especially in the discovery that man’s natural state is not one of war, and neither is Armageddon inevitable. Principles would transcend the national, cultural, religious and political. However, the chief characteristic which would make it better than all the societies we may compare it with, is that it could only exist because it has defeated the possibility of just getting worse .

What makes the best society is also determined by number. A society of one can be the absolute best. A society of two could also be the best. It may be that the best society is determined by the number of good relationships which can exist within it. So before we can say anything about what would make the best society, we must first determine the number of people in it.

Nick Kelly, Eastbourne

In thinking about the best society, I thought of the many noble attempts at creating utopian societies. They range across left- and right-wing, scientific and counter-cultural, and religious concepts. Whether it’s a Brook Farm, a phalanstere or a kibbutz, they all share a common trait: failure.

What of the great attempts by intellectuals to offer models of the best society: Plato’s Calliopolis; More’s Utopia and Marx’s communism, or Bellamy, Morris, St. Simon, Heinlein and Buckminster Fuller? Whatever their merits, they all seem radically and deeply flawed, most significantly, by lacking any truly practical way of instituting the necessary changes to bring those dreams into reality. Even the dystopian cautionary voices and visions of Huxley, Wells, Orwell, Atwood or Lowry seem to be practically far removed from actuality (thankfully).

And then it happened. Something strange occurred to me after watching Pixar’s Wall-E : perhaps humans are the central problem in our inability to realize a utopia. We are the whole reason for utopia – yet we also seem to be the reason why no such attempt is ever realized.

I am uncomfortable with this conclusion because it smacks of misanthropy; but the common element to all the above failed utopian (and dystopian) communities is that they are human-centered. Perhaps, then, the best society isn’t even human. Take this aggressive, self-centered and most destructive species out of the mix, and what’s left? Peace? Utopia? A technoutopia of machines could exemplify the very best of universal moral qualities such as courage, honesty, and, above all else, love. All this from robots. We humans have been building our utopian visions out of the wrong stuff.

Perhaps we need to rephrase the question from “What is the best society?” – a utopia – to “What is a good society?” – an eutopia . What would a good society look like? I submit it would be something like the one Socrates outlined in Book 3 of Plato’s Republic – its members living in harmony with nature and one another. But, as beautiful as that bucolic vision may sound, remember Glaucon’s retort: “Socrates,” he said, “you’ve fashioned a city fit for pigs.” Well, perhaps not pigs, but maybe machines.

Patrick Standen, Burlington, VT

Some suggestions:

1. Population propagation will need to be controlled.

2. There will be workable old and new ways to provide necessary and desirable goods and services.

3. There will be leaders and doers who try to arrange a just distribution of these resources and goods.

4. There will be leaders and doers who try to minimize wars and other conflicts, and also crime.

5. People will sometimes ill-treat others (unfortunately).

6. People will sometimes treat others well.

7. People will sometimes try to develop desirable intellectual and emotional abilities.

8. Wise people will accept stoically what they cannot change, change what they should and can, and strive for wisdom to know the difference.

9. Wise people will tackle conflicts between religious, political, philosophical and scientific beliefs with good will and tolerance, and be stoical when such conflicts seem ineliminable.

I set out to describe a better society (not the best one, if there is such a thing). However, I seem to have described societies we already have. So maybe this is the best of all possible worlds that could exist, here, now and forevermore?

Gordon Fisher, South Salem, NY

One of our readers ‘2bsirius’ asked the same question on her YouTube channel, provoking a range of video answers. To watch them, go to youtube.com/user/2bsirius , click on ‘videos’ and go to ‘What would make the best society?’

Next Question of the Month

The next question is: How Are We Free? Explain the nature of free will and other freedoms in less than 400 words. The prize is a random book from our book mountain. Subject lines or envelopes should be marked ‘Question Of The Month’, and must be received by 1st September. If you want a chance of getting a book, please include your physical address. Submission implies permission to reproduce your answer physically and electronically. So no freedom there, clearly.

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