In this blog post, I’d like to take a deep look at where Utopia actually exists and how we can make our way there.
For Utopia
“The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. and a nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and a weaned child shall put his hand on the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.”
This passage is one of the most famous verses in the Bible, the world’s most widely read book, and depicts the “Kingdom of God”—that is, the ideal world—as envisioned by the prophet Isaiah. Since the beginning of time, humans have lived with visions of a perfect world. In ancient times, hunter-gatherers likely dreamed of lands abundant with game and fruit, while farmers envisioned lands where harvests were always bountiful and food plentiful. In some eras, people projected their ideal worlds onto religious realms, while in others, they struggled to transform reality into an utopia. Even today, everyone lives dreaming of a perfect world, and “utopia” is used as a word representing that universal aspiration.
The Birth of Utopia and the Struggle for Utopia
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the word “utopia” did not exist from the very beginning. The first person to formally mention the concept was Thomas More, who coined the word by combining the Greek words “ou” and “topos.” Its original meaning was “no-where,” or “a place that does not exist in this world,” and it is a homophone of “eu-topos,” which means “good place.” Taken together, Utopia can be understood as “a country that exists nowhere, yet is dreamed of by everyone.” In Thomas More’s book *A Golden Book, as Pleasant as It Is Useful, Concerning the Best Form of Government and Utopia, a New Island*, he describes this ideal society through the narrative of a fictional character named “Raphael,” who introduces the small island of “Utopia” located near the American continent.
The Utopia depicted by More is a society where many people work together joyfully, the results are distributed fairly, and there is no competition arising from disparities in distribution. However, despite being a brilliant thinker capable of imagining such a society in England—a thoroughly capitalist class-based society—More did not become deeply involved in politics. As mentioned in *Utopia*, this was because he believed that, given the structure of British society at the time, his political advice would lack the power to change the system in the hands of those in power.
The first attempt to apply Utopia to reality was the proletarian revolution, an event in which Karl Marx’s socialist theory was realized under Lenin’s leadership. Marx argued that the army, religion, police, and the state—all created by the bourgeoisie—must disappear, and that a society must be built where each individual owns the means of production and produces according to need. Lenin reinforced Marxism by arguing that a transitional period was necessary to temporarily maintain the army, police, and state so that the socialist system could overcome the threat of imperialism and achieve a perfect society.
However, this revolution degenerated into a statist and authoritarian one under Stalin.
While the Soviet Union outwardly supported the proletarian revolution, it overdeveloped heavy industry, reduced food self-sufficiency, and created a wealth gap due to the nomenklatura (the privileged class within the communist system). Ultimately, due to undemocratic rule, communist ideology took on the form of state-controlled politics. After 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev implemented social reform policies to resolve this contradiction, but they failed, and the realization of their ideal society ultimately ended in failure. This “struggle for utopia,” which influenced the entire world and continues to have a significant impact on South Korea in particular, failed to fundamentally change the world, and utopia remains a “place that does not exist in this world.”
Hippocrates and Doctors
If you are a doctor—or indeed anyone—a corner of the utopia you dream of would likely include something like this: “A world where everyone can live in good health,” “a land of eternal happiness free from pain and suffering.” If we consider a doctor’s livelihood, perhaps we should modify this to “a world where we can protect everyone’s health.” However, one thing is certain: ensuring that the greatest number of people can live as healthily as possible is a doctor’s dream and purpose of existence.
Hippocrates, the ancient Greek scholar, is known as the “Father of Medicine” for establishing medical practice as an independent discipline. In honor of his achievements, doctors take the “Hippocratic Oath” when they become physicians.
“Having now received permission to practice medicine, I solemnly swear to devote my life to the service of humanity.
I will show respect and gratitude to my teachers.
I will practice medicine with my conscience and dignity.
I will place the health and life of my patients above all else.
I will keep secret all the private matters of my patients that they have entrusted to me.
I will uphold the noble traditions and honor of my profession.
I will regard my colleagues as brothers.
I will fulfill my duty to my patients regardless of race, religion, nationality, political affiliation, or social status.
I will respect human life from the moment of conception as the most sacred thing on earth.
Even under threat, I will not use my knowledge contrary to the principles of medicine.“
This oath can be seen as presenting the principles that doctors must uphold to create a ”utopia of health.” Since all doctors dream of a “utopia of health,” they take this oath upon graduating from medical school. But can we, in this day and age, truly become “Hippocrates”?
An acquaintance went to the emergency room because his mother was ill. His mother had visited the ER before with similar symptoms, so he knew they were caused by a virus. As soon as they arrived, the attending physician ordered a chest X-ray. My acquaintance argued that since it was viral, an injection would suffice, but the doctor could only reply, “It’s ER policy.”
Setting aside the debate over whether to shorten treatment time by trusting the patient’s or guardian’s self-diagnosis when a patient arrives at the ER, or whether the doctor should conduct further tests to ensure accuracy, the phrase “it’s policy” implies that even if something isn’t strictly necessary, one must follow the rules. In the end, my acquaintance received treatment without an X-ray and returned home. Later, while chatting with him, I could see that he was worried about that doctor who “provided treatment safely but did not follow hospital policy.”
Hospitals are indispensable for achieving the utopia of “the greatest good for the greatest number.” A hospital equipped with a system that allows professionals from different fields to collaborate can generate far greater power than a simple “sum of its parts.”
Given the trend toward increasingly vast and specialized medicine, the more individual doctors have to learn, the more they will need to collaborate. Naturally, treatment methods for patients will become more precise, and as a result, the “utopia of health” may gradually come closer.
However, we must not forget that hospitals are merely a means to achieve the utopia of health; they are not the utopia itself. If we set aside the definition of “utopia” for a moment, we can see that the ways in which patients and doctors alike approach a utopia for those who are sick are bound to differ. For some, early diagnosis will be key; for others, aggressive treatment; and for still others, a simple word of comfort may have a profound impact on creating their own personal “utopia.” In other words, utopia may not be a destination toward which everyone is heading, but rather a state that is unique to each individual.
