Utopia Wealth Quotes Page 2
(Book.Page) based on the 1989 Cambridge University Press edition
| Quote #4 It seems to me that men cannot possibly live well where all things are in common [...] If the hope of gain does not spur him on, won't he rely on others, and become lazy? (1.40) |
More is voicing a pretty direct objection to Hythloday's picture of human life. How do the Utopians avoid being lazy? Do you buy Hythloday's explanation?
| Quote #5 The doors [in Utopian houses] open easily and swing shut automatically—and so there is nothing private or exclusive. Every ten years they exchange the houses themselves by lot. (2.47) |
Nope, Hythloday wasn't kidding about the whole no-private-property thing. Too extreme?
| Quote #6 Since [the Utopians] share everything equally, it follows that no one can ever be reduced to poverty or forced to beg. (2.61) |
Even if you aren't sold on the whole no-wealth thing, it's hard not be sold on the no-poverty thing. But do wealth and poverty necessarily go together as Hythloday describes? Would this system work in the real world?
