[Voltaire's "Candide" Reading Reflection] Absurdity of Utopia

21 September 2023

Since ancient times, humans have wrestled with the possibility of the “best possible world,” or Utopia. All the early political theories like democracy, autocracy, and so on were created by philosophers in the hope of achieving the best possible world. Accordingly, from the Enlightenment to the modern days, more ideas such as Communism rose to popularity in the hope of reaching Utopia. Though numerous different theories claim to be unique, they all seek to create a place of equality where no crime, poverty, or war exists. However, such an unrealistic view of utopia is futile, since a utopian system like El Dorado can never exist. 

A Utopia can never exist because it is attainable only with the premise that men are essentially good. However, men are insatiable and easily corrupted beings, and frigid competition against one another is an implacable aspect of human society. Men constantly seek to rise above other men even when it is not needed, as Thomas Hobbes claims. Thus, even if we build a place like El Dorado where all goods and riches are abundant, men will somehow seek a way to compete and win over each other. It is not gold that matters to men, but it is the prestige and rareness the gold holds that matters: if all possess an abundance of gold, men will search for a new specialty that could elevate themselves from others. Thus, no society can be a peaceful Utopia in reality. 

Moreover, Utopia must be prevented even if humanity could attain it. The idea of Utopia sounds beautiful at first sight, but it is an absurd and monstrous theory when it comes down to the concept of “equality.” In contrast to the conventional perception, “equality” is an outrageous value hindering the progress and motivation of people. If all are provided equally satisfactorily regardless of their efforts and contributions to society, the ones who work assiduously will find no motivation to work hard. Then, the individuals would no longer make progress, and the nation would be unmaintainable. Thus, unless a nation has an endless abundance of food and wealth to provide for every single person for their whole lifetime, the “Utopia” will fall either to despotism (using force and fear as a motivation to work) or poverty (since no one will work). A government must admittedly strive to solve poverty, class struggles, and the tyranny of the rich to some extent but must recant any attempt to establish “Utopia.”