George Hammond, Author, Rational Idealism

Monday Night Philosophy erases 500 years and takes you back to Antwerp in 1516, where a young British diplomat, Thomas More, cools his heels during a diplomatic mission to Bruges by entertaining his friends Erasmus and Pieter Gillis with fanciful tales of the discovery of the island of Utopia ("no place"). The traveler, Raphael Hythlodaeus ("archangel nonsense"), narrates his tale of discovery just 24 years after Columbus sailed to the Caribbean. But philosophical and ironical gold are the treasures of Utopia. The gold Columbus sought is dismissed so thoroughly that Utopians use it to make toilets. Enjoy a glimpse of late medieval humanist humor, before Henry VIII ruined all the fun.