Table Of ContentWELFARE ECONOMICS
IN ENGLISH UTOPIAS
To the memory 01 my fatker, Leon Fuz, who died lor the Cause
01 Freedom, defending his country during the German invasion
of Poland in I939.
WELFARE ECONOMICS
IN ENGLISH UTOPIAS
. FROM FRANCIS BACON TO ADAM SMITH
BY
J.
K. FUZ. Ph. D .
•
Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V
1952
ISBN 978-94-017-4543-7 ISBN 978-94-017-4681-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-4681-6
Copyright 1952 by Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands in 1952.
Softcover reprint olthe hardcover 1st edition 1952
All rights reserved, including the right fo translate or to
reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form
PREFACE
The author is fully aware of the difficulties connected with an
adequate treatment of this subject, in view of the general back
ground of that fascinating age - the seventeenth century. The
present work is simply a modest attempt to draw attention to
some in many cases forgotten or disregarded Utopian writings
and to show the long line of thought behind many concepts
which, to the modern reader, may seem obvious truths.
He is very much indebted to Professor H. W. Lambers of
Rotterdam for his constant encouragement, help and criticism
and also for his willingness to forget for a moment his many
other duties and to pass much of his valuable time in the critical
study of the seventeenth century papers and publications.
The author is very thankful to his mother, his relations and
friends both in Holland and in Poland for all they have done for
hirn, and he would especially mention Miss Mary Barber for her
great help in correcting the English text.
He also owes very much to his wife for her patience, coöper
ation and help in typing the manuscripts.
Acknowledgment is made to the Library of the Netherlands
School of Economics at Rotterdam, to the Royal Library at The
Hague and to the Librarian of the London School of Economics
and Political Science for their willing help.
J. K. F.
CONTENTS
Preface. . . v
Introduction
Francis Bacon's "Nova Atlantis" (1629). 13
Middleway Utopia
Samuel Hartlib's "Macaria" (1641). . . . . . . .. 18
Peter Chamberlen's "Poor Man's Advocate, or Eng-
land's Samaritan" (1649). . . . . . . . . . .. 34
William Goffe's "How to advance the Trade of the
Nation, and employ the Poor". . . . . . . . .. 38
Collectivist Utopia
Gerrard Wistanley's "The Law of Freedom or True
Magistracy Restored" (1652) . . . . . . . . .. 43
Peter Comelis Plockhoy's "A Way Propounded To
Make the poor in these and other Nations happy
etc" (1659) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Robert Wallace's "Various Prospects" (1761) . . .. 63
Individualistic Utopia
lohn Bellers' "Proposals for Raising a College of in-
dustry" (1695). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Bemard Mandeville's "The Fable of The Bees: Or,
Private Vices, Publiek Benefits" (1705-1728). 82
Conc1usions. 94
Ap?endix A: ] oseph Glanvill's "Scepsis Scientifica" (1665) 104
P_ppendix B: Gregory King's "Tables" (1688) . 10 9
Bibliography 110
Index. . . 112
INTRODUCTION
"Without the Utopians of othe, times, men would sml
live in caves, miserable and naked. It was Utopians who
traced the lines of the first city .... Out of generous d,eams
co me beneficial reaWies . Utopia is the principle of all
progress, and Ihe essay into a better future" 1).
Anatole France
Men, through the ages, have always dreamt of Utopia - the
"Nowhere" whose name has come down to us from Thomas More.
Men from many professions, callings and trades, of very varied
social strata and nationality- philosophers, chancellors, monks,
a commercial traveller, a martyr and even a King, have dreamt
of a world to be reshaped after their own vision of it 2).
There were brilliant literary fragments which are even to-day
widely popular, and also c1umsy, unreadable efforts put on paper
with a shaky pen; these were as so on forgotten by the public as
their creation was quick.
Utopia is as old as mankind, even though, probably, not always
formulated as such, and it will never ce ase to exist in the wishes,
thoughts, visions or dreams of men. Its fascination as an idea
comes from the creative impulse of human nature - dissatis
faction with the present and the desire to achieve something
better, something ideal, the impulse at the root ofhuman progress.
This is not striving for change merely for its own sake, but is
a conscious, steady endeavour towards a definite goal on the
horizon which never will be reached but which moves slowly
with, and always in advance of humanity, ever setting before
it new tasks and ambitions.
Utopia is a "state of mind" and is necessary as an intellectual
attitude, as a stimulus to further development or action; and it
is always the corrective of existing society.
') Quoted from "The Story of Utopias" by L. Mumford, N.·York. 1923, p.22.
') Utopia of Stanislaw Leszczynski, King of Poland and Duke of LOFraine:
"Entretien d'un Europeen avec un Insulaire du Royaume de Dumocala". Paris, 1752.
English Utopias
2 INTRODUCTION
It requires phantasy, courage and will and if it is meant as a
serious social project, not only as an escape from reality, it
involves the gift of perception and the power of mental detach
ment from current events, with, at the same time, a deep insight
into thc life and composition of society 1).
The fantastic form of description often used by the Utopian
writers had the advantage of protecting the writer's person
from possible persecution or censorship. Above all when it
contained elements of criticism or an urge to reform existing
society, it could always make use of the escape clause as being
merely fiction.
The other important advantage in setting the scene on un
known islands or countries was the general public interest in
these during the age of discoveries ; it had a very strong publicity
value and was almost certainly written with that intention 2).
Later on, the place of the unknown island was taken by the more
plastic and convenient element of time.
There still remains an open question and that is: how can we
recognize a Utopia, and what makes any given set of ideas
appear to us as such? To these questions we would reply in
conformity with Mannheim's view that a Utopia can be at once
identified because its goals transcend reality 3). This definition
1) "The world has scarcely ever been without its Utopias." p.I. M. Kaufmann,
"Utopias or Schemes of Social Improvement", London, 1879. Here follow some
definitions of Utopias.
"(Utopia) an ideal commonwealth whose inhabitants exist under perfect con
ditions" - Encyclopaedia Britannica.
" .... eine Utopie ein literarisches Phantasieprodukt ist, dass den Menschen den
Weg zur Verbesserung ihrer politischen, moralischen und sozialen Lage zeigen will".
p. 27. E. Schomann-"Französische Utopisten des 18. Jahrhunderts und ihr Frauen
ideal" , Berlin, 1911.
"Utopianism" .... a conception of socia! improvement either by ideas and ideals
themselves or embodied in definite agencies of social change" pp. 2-3. J. O. Hertzler,
"The History of Utopian Thought", London, 1923.
"As for the Utopias, they are static ex hypothesi. For these works are always
programmes of action masquerading in the disguise of imaginary descriptive sociology
and the action which they are intented to evoke is nearly always the "pegging", at a
certain level, of an actual society which has entered on a decline that must end in a
fall unless the downward movement can be artificially arrested". Arnold J. Toynbee,
"A Study Of History", Somervell edition, Oxford University Press, 1947, p. 183.
"Similarly Utopias are invented, not as mere fiction, but in order to suggest by
contrast something which might be done to improve actual human institutions".
Hawtrey R. G., Economic Journal, Sept. 1946, p.352.
S) Cf. Utopias of Thomas More, Campanella, Bacon or some French writers.
B) Cf. article on Utopia by Dr. Karl Mannheim in "Encyclopaedia of the Social
Sciences", New York, MCMXXXV, vol. XV, pp. . 200-201.
INTRODUCTION 3
of Utopian writings covers the whole field of their literary expres
sion; the story, and its conformity with reality have in the narra
tive approximated to a reality which is feIt as such by the reader.
To make it c1earer, a Utopia may be regarded as such by one
generation because its goals transcend the current notions of
reality, by another generation it may be simply accepted as a
reality, our notions of which being always relative. We must
therefore be very careful in labelling Utopian conception as
mere fiction or impossibility; apriori we do not know; the only
verification being possible after the lapse of some years or even
centuries. To put it differently and of course as a generalization,
all ideas, theories, plans, actions etc. which after a long enough
period from, let us say, anything between 50 änd 200 years,
have not been or cannot be realized, although presented as
reaIizable, may be regarded as Utopian conceptions. Such broade
ning of our ideas of these opens up vast new vistas and at the
same time wipes out our previous belittlening and contempt
of Utopias.
The previous c1assifications of the sphere of Utopian activity
as almost solely confined to the "Staatsroman" or pure artistry
must no longer be regarded as satisfactory. We may safely say
that Utopias are possible in any field of human activity or
thought, but we would like to limit the use of this concept to
their most significant field of action which was and remains
sodal sdence. Perhaps the name "Utopia proper" might be
reserved for this type of Utopian endeavour.
There is a current custom of dividing Utopias into the real
ones aiming at the reform of society under the cover of fantastic
narrative, these being called "Utopias of realization", and the
purely literary "Utopias of escape" which although they stir
our imagination do not differ very much from ordinary romances
or stories of adventure. Another distinction may be made be
tween "Utopias of men" and "Utopias of measures". The latter
advocating a policy of reform, the former taking as a condt'tio
sine qua non a complete change of human nature.
For an economist, only one criterion can be applied to dis
tinguish between "Utopias of realization" and "Utopias of
escape", and that is whether the scarcity concept is accepted and
whether one of its most pregnant sodal aspects, the working
Description:The author is fully aware of the difficulties connected with an adequate treatment of this subject, in view of the general back ground of that fascinating age - the seventeenth century. The present work is simply a modest attempt to draw attention to some in many cases forgotten or disregarded Uto
