Reading Notes on Book 1 of Utopia
    1. Letter to Giles
      2.
      1. Community of scholars
      2. False modesty
      3. Concern with eloquence and learning as highest goal
      4. Trickery about the literal detail–wit; being in the know–include nothing false
        1. Eutopia; outopia; Hythloday
      5. Apparatus of humanist text–tributes letters–the map–the documentary artifact–utopian language–Utopia in utopian
        6.
    2. Introduction of Raphael–his name. Philosopher, scholar, adventurer, explorer and searcher for truth
      1. Wise man and critic of this world–cf. Dante and Chaucer
      2. Reading Plato–two parts–the discussion and debate; the ideal state and thought experiment–relationship of Book I and Book II
    3. Debate about wisdom and counsel of kings: dialogue of counsel–More and Erasmus’ roles as educators and political intellectuals
      1. No interest in wealth and power
      2. Centrality of monarchy–695
    4. Raphael’s disgust with monarchy
      1. Preoccupation with war
      2. People dont take others’ discoveries or good ideas seriously
    5. Discussion of justice–at Cardinal’s table
      1. Antagonist: good justice system–lots of criminals punished
      2. Raphael–bad schoolmasters–rather beat than teach 696
      3. What makes thieves
        1. War and corrupt nobility that goes with it–importance of war ethic: chivalry and masculinity ; soldier as hero–man with sword on horse is definition of aristocrat–Beowulf
        2. Enclosure–economic injustice...again the nobility and class structure
        3. Destroying small farm sustainable economy for single commodity and consolidation of capital and wealth
        4. Greed....market forces 699...poverty and luxury
      4. Extremity and unfairness of punishment; particularly capital punishment
      5. Examples and experiments with alternate systems from different cultures
      6. When the Cardinal praises R’s ideas, the others reverse their attitudes; people as sheep 703; Chaucerian dispute between friar and the rest of the company
    6. Back to dialogue of counsel: reference to Plato and philosopher becoming king.
      1. Raphael insisting on futility of politics with detailed examples of folly of leaders’ warmongering and self agrandizement at the expense of subjects
      2. More’s advocacy of gradualism and role playing and talking language people can understand
      3. Raphael’s argument about the corruption of compromise; his sense of the futility of peacemeal reform under a system of private property
        1. Critique of capitalism and class inequality
        2. More says its unrealistic
        3. Raphael says this is what Utopians have achieved. 713