 |
Saving Place: Thomas More and the Cosmopolitans
| |
| | Unformatted Document Text:
McWilliams, Saving Place
2
For More, with his tremendous interest in civics and high sense of public duty, the
political implications of the expansion of travel were shattering. He realized that all of
these changes in the circumstances of political life would change the dynamics of, and
possibilities for, political life itself. Unlike Francis Bacon (or Niccolo Machiavelli, a
more immediate contemporary), who ushered in the new age with enthusiasms that
bordered on glee, More took a guarded stance. “In his own writing More would adopt a
cautious attitude toward this new understanding,” Ackroyd observes. “He was attracted
by its novelty and even welcomed it in the sphere of civic activity, but at the same time
he sensed its dangers.”
6
More’s dual sense of allure and danger, his considered ambivalence about the
possibilities of increased travel in the modern era, drive his Utopia. In Utopia, More
presents two travelers: Raphael Hythloday and a fictional “Thomas More” (not to be
confused with the actual).
7
Hythloday, hailing originally from Portugal, is a world
voyager who claims to have visited the Island of Utopia. “More,” meanwhile, is a British
official who meets Hythloday while on a mission to Belgium for Henry VIII. Not only
are both men travelers, situated at a distance from their homelands; both are political
philosophers, generally speaking. Both try, that is, to extract general truths about politics
from their considered observations of political life. And both would like their political
6
Ackroyd, 91.
7
On this point, that the fictional “More” and the actual More are distinct and should not be confused, we
have a rare and beautiful thing: a near-universal agreement among scholars. In James Stoner’s words, “What is clear is that the character Thomas More in the dialogue cannot be taken as identical with the author Thomas More of the dialogue” (James R. Stoner, Jr., “Utopia and America: Scholasticism, Humanism, and Enlightenment in Thomas More,” Prepared for the Madison Fellows Seminar, Princeton University, March 10, 2003). Also see David Wootton’s introduction to his edition of Utopia ((Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1999) 10). In Latin, the character is “Morus,” and some scholars, like Wootton, refer to him in that way. But in this paper, I will follow the lead of J.C. Davis, who distinguishes Thomas More, the author, from “Thomas More,” the fictional character, by putting the name of the latter in quotation marks. See J.C. Davis, “More, Morton, and the Politics of Accommodation,” The Journal of British Studies 9.2 (May, 1970) 27ff.
|
| | Authors: McWilliams, Susan. |
|
| |
|
|
McWilliams, Saving Place
2
For More, with his tremendous interest in civics and high sense of public duty, the
political implications of the expansion of travel were shattering. He realized that all of
these changes in the circumstances of political life would change the dynamics of, and
possibilities for, political life itself. Unlike Francis Bacon (or Niccolo Machiavelli, a
more immediate contemporary), who ushered in the new age with enthusiasms that
bordered on glee, More took a guarded stance. “In his own writing More would adopt a
cautious attitude toward this new understanding,” Ackroyd observes. “He was attracted
by its novelty and even welcomed it in the sphere of civic activity, but at the same time
he sensed its dangers.”
6
More’s dual sense of allure and danger, his considered ambivalence about the
possibilities of increased travel in the modern era, drive his Utopia. In Utopia, More
presents two travelers: Raphael Hythloday and a fictional “Thomas More” (not to be
confused with the actual).
7
Hythloday, hailing originally from Portugal, is a world
voyager who claims to have visited the Island of Utopia. “More,” meanwhile, is a British
official who meets Hythloday while on a mission to Belgium for Henry VIII. Not only
are both men travelers, situated at a distance from their homelands; both are political
philosophers, generally speaking. Both try, that is, to extract general truths about politics
from their considered observations of political life. And both would like their political
6
Ackroyd, 91.
7
On this point, that the fictional “More” and the actual More are distinct and should not be confused, we
have a rare and beautiful thing: a near-universal agreement among scholars. In James Stoner’s words,
“What is clear is that the character Thomas More in the dialogue cannot be taken as identical with the
author Thomas More of the dialogue” (James R. Stoner, Jr., “Utopia and America: Scholasticism,
Humanism, and Enlightenment in Thomas More,” Prepared for the Madison Fellows Seminar, Princeton
University, March 10, 2003). Also see David Wootton’s introduction to his edition of Utopia
((Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1999) 10). In Latin, the character is “Morus,” and some
scholars, like Wootton, refer to him in that way. But in this paper, I will follow the lead of J.C. Davis, who
distinguishes Thomas More, the author, from “Thomas More,” the fictional character, by putting the name
of the latter in quotation marks. See J.C. Davis, “More, Morton, and the Politics of Accommodation,” The
Journal of British Studies 9.2 (May, 1970) 27ff.
|
|
 Convention | | Convention is an application service for managing large or small academic conferences, annual meetings, and other types of events! | | Submission - Custom fields, multiple submission types, tracks, audio visual, multiple upload formats, automatic conversion to pdf. | | Review - Peer Review, Bulk reviewer assignment, bulk emails, ranking, z-score statistics, and multiple worksheets! | | Reports - Many standard and custom reports generated while you wait. Print programs with participant indexes, event grids, and more! | | Scheduling - Flexible and convenient grid scheduling within rooms and buildings. Conflict checking and advanced filtering. | | Communication - Bulk email tools to help your administrators send reminders and responses. Use form letters, a message center, and much more! | | Management - Search tools, duplicate people management, editing tools, submission transfers, many tools to manage a variety of conference management headaches! | | Click here for more information. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
