Sources and roots

David Reisman

Chapter 4 in Economy and Utopia, 2026, pp 35-53 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Utopian thought was heavily influenced by classical thinking, by Old Testament nation-building, by Christian charity and morals, by the example of beneficent nature that was there to be observed, harnessed and emulated. Classical philosophers like Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics, reinforced by the great myths of Midas and Atlantis and great statesmen like Lycurgus, had been critical of covetousness and invidious show. They had evoked the middle way, right reason and omnicompetent leadership. The Old Testament had described the survival skills of a wandering tribe governed by a patriarch and by God's law as they sought to create a paradise on earth in a new territory. The New Testament records Jesus's teachings on the Golden Rule and the good Samaritan which are repeatedly echoed in the utopian classics. Nature is God's creation and scientific investigation the best means to access God's will. Mercier saw careful study of the real world as the way in to perfection. Thoreau did not so much study nature as flee civilisation to live at peace on Walden Pond. Original Sin had given way to the plenty of Cockaigne and Arcadia.

Keywords: Greece and Rome; The Bible; Nature and Natural Law; Mercier; Thoreau (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035368600
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035368617.00008 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:24894_4

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().