In Utopia Thomas More gives us a traveller's account of a newly discovered island where the
inhabitants enjoy a social order based on natural reason and justice and human fulfilment is
open to all. As the traveller Raphael describes the island to More a bitter contrast is
drawn between this rational society and the custom-driven practices of Europe. So how can the
philosopher try to reform his society? In his fictional discussion More takes up a question
first raised by Plato and which is still a challenge in the contemporary world. In the history
of political thought few works have been more influential than Utopia and few more
misunderstood.
