Children in Utopias: Training of Children in Reformers and Philosophers Utopias

By utopia it means a society that enjoys certain political, economic, social, and educational structures; a society that can lead the maximum number of its members to maximum happiness. As a matter of fact, by writing utopian books, the authors are not aimed at erecting such utopia in their country or in other country. According to Plato, these works are considered to be just like patterns that all countries can benefit from them and following which attain their happiness. Utopianism first was developed by Plato and then other philosophers in the world of Islam and Christianity followed him. Here we are not going to deal with the well known figures in the field of utopian in the world, but rather intend to cast some light on the training of children in the utopia of reformers and philosophers. Based on the studies made on training, the signification of training has two meanings: general and particular meaning. Both meanings stress heavily on the importance of training of children and youth and consider it as a means of bringing about changes in a society. In this article the views of the Eastern and Western philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Farabi, Tomasho Kampalana, and Thomas More on the notion of utopia have been studied. Almost all of them followed the same universal and logical principle. In certain issues such as religion, man, and God there are certain differences between the Western and the Eastern utopias. To sum up, while spirituality and divinity constitute the gist of Eastern utopia, the Western utopia stresses on materiality and corporeality and this point is palpable in their training of children. On the whole, utopians strongly stress on education and training and look at training as a chief factor behind any peaceful social change.