{"id":30,"date":"2015-12-15T21:33:13","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T02:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/utopias10\/?page_id=30"},"modified":"2015-12-15T21:33:13","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T02:33:13","slug":"rp4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/utopias10\/rp4\/","title":{"rendered":"RP4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kyle Sheehan<\/span><\/p>\n

FYS 100 Section 50 \u2013 Social Utopias<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Watts<\/span><\/p>\n

September 14, 2015<\/span><\/p>\n

Assignment: Explain what Bradshaw argues in his article and show the steps that he takes to explain his argument.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

In his article, Bradshaw aims to dispute a well-known and respected analysis of Utopia. The original analysis that Bradshaw is targeting was written by a man named J.H. Hexter. Bradshaw refers to this analysis as \u201cbrilliant\u201d and even praises Hexters status as a \u201cscholar as interpreter of the political thought of the early modern period\u201d.<\/span> Bradshaw argues that \u201cdespite all the light which Hexter\u2019s analysis throws on the text it is founded on an unsustainable hypothesis.\u201d<\/span> He respects Hexter\u2019s analysis and the enormity of its effects on the literary world with regards to More and Utopia, however he disagrees with the fundamental idea on which it is founded.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bradshaw points out that there are two problems or questions needed to be answered while attempting to interpret Utopia. These questions include \u201cwhat does More here intend to describe and what is his purpose in describing it.\u201d<\/span> Bradshaw uses these questions as an introduction into his argument. He then goes on to explain the two main opposing interpretations. The first is that More presented Utopia to point out the \u201cfollies of Christian Society\u201d. This interpretation holds that the Utopia was nothing more than an attempt to \u201cheighten the reader\u2019s perception of the real world\u201d.<\/span> The second interpretation claims that More\u2019s Utopia is not restricted to only fantasy. Those that follow the second interpretation believe that Utopia was intended to be applied to real life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bradshaw uses these two opposing interpretations as the basis for his argument against Hexter\u2019s analysis. Hexter\u2019s interpretation points to More\u2019s Utopia as a \u201cChristian commonwealth, not a pagan one.\u201d He argues this by claiming that \u201cthe criteria for a Christian society are moral rather than institutional.\u201d<\/span> Being that Utopia is intended to be socially and morally just, it therefor is a Christian society. However Utopia does have some practices that may not seem to fall under Christian ideals such as divorce and euthanasia.<\/span> Bradshaw first begins his argument by analyzing the actual text of Hexter\u2019s analysis. He then begins to discuss <\/span><\/p>\n

counter arguments provided by other literary analysts. Bradshaw points out that the greatest opposition to Hexter\u2019s analysis is provided by the work of a man named Dermot Fenlon.<\/span> Bradshaw claims that Fenlon\u2019s paper \u201cserved incidentally to entrench the interpretative framework established by Hexter.\u201d<\/span> \u00a0He then goes on to utilize Fenlon\u2019s analysis, as well as his own interpretations to dispute the original thesis of Hexter.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kyle Sheehan FYS 100 Section 50 \u2013 Social Utopias Dr. Watts September 14, 2015 Assignment: Explain what Bradshaw argues in his article and show the steps that he takes to explain his argument. In his article, Bradshaw aims to dispute a well-known and respected analysis of Utopia. The original analysis that Bradshaw is targeting was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2402,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/utopias10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/utopias10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/utopias10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/utopias10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2402"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/utopias10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/utopias10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/utopias10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}