ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that Utopia had historical precedents and contemporary parallels; but that Thomas More's greatest strength was to explore the ramifications of the issues he addressed and to pose more imaginative solutions. The Utopians, by contrast, in social humanist mode, eschewed false pleasures and valued the life of the mind and virtue over private possessions. If contemporary English social commentary provided a context for Utopia, so did contemporary Europe. Utopia broke with the traditional language of social obligation and took up a novel line of thinking from the social humanism of the Florentine Renaissance, which praised wealth and critiqued poverty. Championing the role of wealth in civic life might seem to contradict many of the positions taken in Utopia concerning the proud arrogance of noble power, its abuses in regard to tenants and servants, and its wallowing in idleness and luxury.
