Utopia - Thomas More

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Résumé :
Utopia is Thomas More's enduring work of political philosophy describing an imagined island society organised around reason, communal responsibility, and social harmony. Presented as a traveller's account related by the fictional Raphael Hythloday, the work examines the institutions, customs, and daily life of the island of Utopia. Through this narrative device, More explores questions of governance, justice, property, religion, and the structure of an ideal commonwealth. The book moves between satire and serious philosophical inquiry, contrasting the social conditions of sixteenth-century Europe with a radically different vision of civic organisation. Over the centuries Utopia has remained one of the foundational texts of political thought, influencing debates about social reform, communal living, and the possibility of designing a just society. Its blend of humanist learning, irony, and philosophical speculation established the very term utopia, which has since entered the language as shorthand for imagined ideal societies. More's work continues to be studied not only as a historical document of Renaissance humanism but also as a provocative meditation on politics, morality, and the nature of the common good....

Biographie:
Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 - 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More,[7][8] was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He was also a Chancellor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to May 1532.[9] He wrote Utopia, published in 1516,[10] about the political system of an imaginary island state.
More opposed the Protestant Reformation, directing polemics against the theology of Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin and William Tyndale. More also opposed King Henry VIII's separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and executed. On his execution, he was reported to have said: I die the King's good servant, and God's first.
Pope Pius XI canonised More in 1935 as a martyr. Pope John Paul II in 2000 declared him the patron saint of Statesmen and Politicians.[11][12] The Soviet Union in the early twentieth century honoured him for the purportedly communist attitude toward property rights in Utopia
Born on Milk Street in London, on 7 February 1478, Thomas More was the son of Sir John More,[16] a successful lawyer and later a judge[17], and his wife Agnes (n?e Graunger). He was the second of six children. More was educated at St Anthony's School, then considered one of London's best schools.[18][19] From 1490 to 1492, More served John Morton, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England, as a household page.[20]:xvi Morton enthusiastically supported the New Learning (scholarship which was later known as humanism or London humanism), and thought highly of the young More. Believing that More had great potential, Morton nominated him for a place at the University of Oxford (either in St. Mary Hall or Canterbury College, both now gone).[21]:38
More began his studies at Oxford in 1492, and received a classical education. Studying under Thomas Linacre and William Grocyn, he became proficient in both Latin and Greek. More left Oxford after only two years-at his father's insistence-to begin legal training in London at New Inn, one of the Inns of Chancery.[20]:xvii[22] In 1496, More became a student at Lincoln's Inn, one of the Inns of Court, where he remained until 1502, when he was called to the Bar