Utopianism and the New World Order: A Critical Consideration

Okoro Kingsley

Department of Philosophy and Religion, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria.

DOI: 10.4236/ojpp.2014.43037                

Abstract

Utopianism, which has been inveigled in various circles into epistemological obscurity, has been the force behind several socio-political and economic reforms of many generations. Scholars accredit religious thoughts as the purveyor of the messianic utopianism, while classical utopianism is accredited to Plato and Aristotle. However,Thomas Moore coined the word utopia and furthered the concept in the modern times. Overly, the power of utopian thinking lies in the strength of imaginative thought. Thus utopianism is christened idealism and dismissed as irrelevant to real life experiences of the modern man. However, the works of Thomas Moore, on the contrary, have thrown hindsight to the fact that utopian thoughts are relevant both for the spiritual and material worlds. Here, utopian thinking serves as a critique to the ineptitude of the utopianist’s society. Utopia becomes a means of addressing the evils of the society in which the utopian lives(d). In the works of Thomas Moore, the imaginary city of utopia becomes an ideal state, where all the citizens live in peace and harmony, contrary to the European society of Moore’s time, where oppression, war and social disorder were the dicta. Against this backdrop, this paper found epistemological connection between Moore’s period and the contemporary period and decided to apply Moore’s utopian thoughts to the modern times. It concludes that if Moore’s utopianism is applied with modification, the present world will attain its dream of becoming a common community, which extols friendship and brotherhood.

Keywords

Utopia (Nism), New World Order, Critical, Consideration

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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