While the goal of a perfect society may be seen as highly utopian dangerously idealistic, many have claimed to have devised such a society. Marx, Machiavelli, Aristotle or Plato? Who is the philosopher with the perfect or close enough to perfect society?. Does international society today (or domestic American society)reflect any of the societies described by these philosophers?
Important safety tip:
Never let a philosopher devise your society.
The society can’t be perfect anyway. To be perfect, it has to stick to a framework. But people are different, as Aleko Konstantiov wrote: “Different people, different ideals”. There is nothing that all people like at the same time (if we exclude some factors like love and so on, but I’m not sure if haters adore love). So utopian society cannot be true.
does Gene Roddenberry count as a Philosopher?
Jerry I hope that you don’t think that Donald Trump should design our society. Ha ha!
To the OP if you read Plato’s Republic you will find a lot of similarities to the US and the traditional structure of the Catholic and Islamic churches.
Meanwhile, I have heard, and can understand, the claim that America is a Marxist state! The idea in Marism is that you get a share according to how much you give. In the US the homeless person can find some soup and a bed at most shelters and the CEO can have his variety of goods. The first man does little for the society and gets little, while the second does a lot and gets a lot.
I’m not saying that I buy this, but I can understand it.
what is a “perfect” society?
to me, a “perfect” society has zero opposition to the status quo.
yet such a thing is only an abstract frame of reference; realistically, there will always be some opposition to whatever social order is in existence.
the point, however, is to create conditions that would naturally (not “forcefully,” such as with police and tear gas and other forms of intimidation) limit dissent.
for example: by eliminating poverty and allowing most people to agree that “poverty is bad,” that particular reason for dissent will be eliminated. no batons were necessary. and, thus, you have a natural limit.
Hello all.
To me, it is all the imperfections in any given society are what gives it character. The idea that a perfect society can exist is possible, but not a good idea. The way I see it, in order for a perfect society to exist, everybody in the society must be on the same page. They must be on the same line. They must be on the same word and reading at the same exact pace. Of course, it would take great amounts of time, effort and money to do this. People are not a photo copy of the world’s leaders (as much as they would like them to be) and are not going to adjust their lifestyle just because an elected official, idealist, revolutionary, etc. said so. Perfect societies have been attempted before, and the way I see it is that those attempts were Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union. (Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that they were good places to be at the time and I do not agree with said leader’s views). Things like propaganda and the S.S. existed to make people have the same views. All the executions were to take away the ‘imperfections’ of those societies. Same goes for all the propaganda.
Authors like George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Luis Lowry tried to show what a perfect society would be like. These were places without freedom, where everything is regulated so everyone is reading at the same pace.
In other words, perfect societies are one hell of a bad idea.