Desire versus Social Organization in More's Utopia
             Social organization in the imaginary community described by Hythloday in Thomas More's Utopia is highly structured around certain basic principles that allow the society to function as a working unit. Many of these fundamental rules focus on communal life in Utopia, promoting shared property, minimal law enforcement, trust, and honesty, while downplaying notions of luxury and finance. More contends that the Utopians, according to nature, should "lead a life as free of anxiety and as full of joy as possible, and to help all one's fellow men toward that end". Desire, the driving force that motivates all human behavior is overlooked in this equation. More recognizes this briefly, asking, "If such a life is good, and we are supposed, indeed obliged to help others to it, why shouldn't we first seek all of it for ourselves, to whom we owe no less charity than anyone else?" (pg 51). Desire, a central element of the human psyche, would complicate these basic principles by introducing notions of greed, competition, and crime into the society that works to suppress these social ills into submission. The very foundations of Hythloday's social order rest upon maintenance of the underlying psychology of the rules of the society; the introduction of desire into the community undermines the reasoning behind these principles, resulting in the inability of the society to function in its described state.
             Desire, in all of its forms, is a prominent component of the human condition. People always are trying to better their lot in life, be it through individual improvement or the construction of wealth. More recognizes that "their communal living and their moneyless economy" is undeniably "[the] one thing alone [that] takes away all the nobility, magnificence, splendor, and majesty which ... are considered the true ornaments of any n...