Review from yesterday
Explain the differences between Rousseau and
Hobbes concerning:
•
•
•
•
Human Nature
Style of Government
Enforcement of morals/law
Nature
Goal: Understand Arcadia/Utopia
• What are the primary differences between
Arcadia and Utopia and how are they
understood by Voltaire in Candide?
El Dorado (Arcadia/Utopia)
Sir Thomas More/Sir Philip Sidney
• Both authors were English Renaissance
writers
• Bother were profoundly affected by the reemergence of Classical Greek and Roman
texts
The Ideals of Utopia - More
• Utopia is s a name for an ideal community or society
possessing a perfect (just) social, political, and legal
system.
• The word was invented by Sir Thomas More for his
1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the
Atlantic Ocean.
• The term has been used to describe both intentional
communities that attempted to create an ideal society,
and fictional societies portrayed in literature. It has
spawned other concepts, most prominently dystopia.
The Ideals of Arcadia - Sidney
• Arcadia (Greek: Ἀρκαδία) refers to a vision of
pastoralism and harmony with nature. The term is
derived from the Greek state of the same name which
dates to antiquity; the province's mountainous
topography and sparse population of pastoralists later
caused the word Arcadia to develop into a poetic byword
for an idyllic vision of unspoiled wilderness.
• Arcadia is associated with bountiful natural splendor,
harmony, and is often inhabited by Shepards. The
concept also figures in Renaissance myth.
Utopia/Arcadia - Sidney
• However, commonly thought of as being in line
with Utopian ideals, Arcadia differs from that
tradition in that it is more often specifically
regarded as unattainable.
• Furthermore, it is seen as a lost, Eden-like form of
life, contrasting to the progressive nature of
Utopian desires.
Generalize: Voltaire on Arcadia and Utopia
• What are the primary differences between Arcadia
and Utopia and how are they understood by
Voltaire in Candide?
• How do Candide and Cacambo view El Dorado
when they stumble upon it?
• What do you think is Candide's ideal civilization or
place? And, is it consistent with the ideals of
Europe at the time?