Joseph Melanson
07-09-2012
Summary
In chapter 4 of Kumar’s Utopianism,
“The Practice of Utopia”, we look at where the ideals of utopia have been attempted and how their
practice has existed in some form in the world throughout history. These ideals have been
enacted in “certain traditions, practices, and institutions” which often take the principles
of religion as their model (Kumar 64). One example of a historical attempt at
utopia is often found in the embodiment of the monastery. The monastery was an early
example and attempt at building a community in which all members come together for
the sake of living together under a common goal, and for working selflessly for the sake
of maintaining the health and harmony of the community.
In other
attempts to examine where utopia has been attempted, at least in part, we look to extract in “historical societies” their utopian
principles (Kumar 66). Every society through the ages has invented its own practices and ideals
of utopian principles, developing out of the particular society itself, and many of
our early societies contain examples of how these practices have been implemented and
how they have both succeeded and failed. These early examples serve as inspiration
and fuel for later developments in both the practice and theory of utopian
creations. The field of utopia has often relied on early societies and communities where
utopian ideals have been practiced, for the lessons that they have provided in their actual
practice, and the development of later ideas has often relied on the lessons learned from
past attempts in these practices of utopia.
To examine
more closely the practice of utopian ideals we must look at specific examples of the “effects and consequences of utopia” and
their practices in the actual world (Kumar 67). Some examples of the attempts at practicing
utopia are seen in various communities where their attempts have somewhat succeeded,
and have mostly failed. These successes and failures have inspired authors such as
Thomas More and James Harrington to create their utopian works which have been influential
in the creation of historical constitutions and in social planning. But these
attempts at practicing utopia in the real world has proven that “social thought and theory
are different from social practice” (Kumar 71). The real world application in
historical societies of utopian social practice has shown that theory and practice of utopia are
more divergent when human nature is expected to conform to utopian theory.
Utopian communities of the past are
still important for the ideas that we can derive from them and what we can learn from the “utility”,
or the use, “of utopias” (Kumar 73). These communities are valuable in how we can
learn the lessons of how and why these societies succeeded and failed, to the degree with
which they succeeded and failed, and why or why they didn’t succeed or fail. These
communities, despite their lack of perfection, are still valuable for the results of these utopian
experiments to the development of future utopian practices.
Kumar in
chapter 4 also examines where utopia as practiced in societies as a whole, as compared to the smaller communities where it had
existed. America
is analyzed for how it has both succeeded and failed as an
ideal of utopia. Despite its promise of being the land of the free, America is seen as a failure for
living up to its utopian ideal with which it was founded. The former Soviet Union, or the first communist society, which was supposed to be an utopian paradise, is
also given as an example of how a utopian experiment is corruptible by the people who
wish to implement it. Utopia is a social ideal which has yet to be perfected, but which
will still forever remain a component of our human nature.
Response.
From this
chapter I have seen how the practice of utopia has been attempted throughout human history in multiple forms. The first
examples have been in the form of the monastery, where under the guise of religion people have
attempted to come together to serve the greater good of the community, rather than
their selfish ego and desires, and devote their existences to live in enthusiastic obedience to
some higher authority.
This
structure of the monastery has been attempted to be expanded into whole communities and societies. These attempts have been largely
failures, yet these same communities have produced many valuable and necessary
insights into our human desire to peacefully coexist, and mutually prosper. Through
analyzing the practice of utopia in these former societies, I can see how the ideal of this
concept continues to live despite our continued inability to perfectly enact it.
The
successes and failures of former societies allows us to look at our own communities and societies, and how to best improve them. Even
if we are unable to create a utopia as a whole, I would think it would be up to
the individual to play their own part in how they can practice utopian ideals on their
own, and perhaps affect change in others in their own participation in the world. I believe
that utopia will not be realized until we as individuals can practice and embody the utopian
ideals and practices on our own, rather than imposed upon us by some higher authority. I
think the chapter shows how the success of the practice of utopia is dependent upon
how utopia begins with the individual in any time or place. The greatest impediment to
the development of utopia is with the governing bodies that oversees the community, and
not on a lack of willingness for various peoples across various times to enact it.
Utopia is not a concept that is
going to go away, but is always in development, and theory builds upon practice, practice depends upon
theory. Both theory and practice are both dependent upon human enactment, and it is up to us
as individuals to make the necessary steps to develop our larger society into a utopian
ideal, rather than expecting people to succumb to some utopian rule imposed upon us
by some governing authority.
Works Cited:
Kumar, Krishan. “The Practice of Utopia”. Utopianism: Concepts in Social Thought. Great Britain: University of Minnesota
Press. 1991. 64-85. Print.
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