The Main Contributors to a Future Utopia

Abstract

Which people, events, movements, institutions, and documents in the history of humankind have contributed most to the possible realization of a future utopia (i.e., a time when the Golden Rule is universally lived by)? This study consisted of two phases. The first phase involved generating nominated lists from over 100 graduate students and professionals in a variety of fields. In the second phase, the two resultant lists of 155 people and 122 events, movements, institutions, and documents were sent to a randomly-selected list of 400 tenured and tenure-track history and philosophy professors at 40 randomly-selected public Research 1 universities. These professors were asked to select who and what would be on their ‘A’ lists. The most frequently-selected people included Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Buddha. The most-frequently selected events, movements, institutions, and documents included: the Abolitionist movement, the American Bill of Rights, and the Abolishment of Apartheid in South Africa. The lists are presented and discussed.