More’s Utopia: a disciplinary society

Abstract

We have many interpretations about Thomas More’s Utopia (1478-1535), as well as the main goals this author had to guide his work. In this article it is asserted that, beyond any specific intentionality attributed to More, in Utopia there exists a powerful warning regarding the negative consequences for individuals that could have an exaggerated application of the rational idealism during the design of institutions to rule social life. In this sense, and following some thesis raised by Foucault’s work, it is showed that Utopia represents a good example of disciplinary society, which is a type of society evidenced by Foucault at the end of the Twentieth Century. From this perspective, and along with a humanistic approach, Moro had anticipated some negative consequences that could come up out of the application of rationalism, that was starting to brew in his time.