J. Antall szerk.: Medical history in Hungary 1972. Presented to the XXIII. International Congress of the History of Medicine / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 6. (Budapest, 1972)
M. Vida: State-Models (Utopias) and Sociology of Medicine
36 Medical History in Hungary 1972 (Comm. Hist. Artis Med. Suppl. 6.) ical point of view, his conception was one-sided and a mistake, however regarding the practice of social policy —since its primary aim was the general and comprehensive satisfaction of human needs —as a^ result of sociological evaluation concerning our present study, important problems were put into the centre, i.e., the problems of industrial hygiene and medical service. His view is similar to those of Utopian socialists, that he regarded human character partly as a result of the organism and education, partly as a dependent of circumstances. In accordance with his practical sense he wanted all his ideas to be established immediately. For example in 1809, he prepared a plan of an institute for improving characters to make use regularly of experiences. 7 6 The immediate function of it would have been to educate and prepare workers from their childhood for cooperative work. His idea is really a prophetic one, if we take into account that in our days the function of institutes for talent scout has been very much increased. Owen's plans were immediately followed by social practice. In 1802, seeing "Moral and Health Act", the protective labour legistlation did not succeed, he was engaged in the preparation of industrial legislation. He proposed his motion at a meeting held in Glasgow in 1815, in which he did not forget about industrial hygiene and medical supervision inside regular industrial control. 77 In the following year when a meeting was held on account of the increasing poverty, Owen, as a member of the delegation, sent his lecture to a parliamentary commission consulting the problems of poverty. 7 8 In his proposal he emphasized the importance of hygienic establishments dealing with the set up of colonies for unemployed. His manifold socio-political activities lead Robert Owen on the way of philanthropism to the farest. According to his conception —one of his reviewer called this aptly "patriarchal philanthropism" —the indispensable condition for preparation and organization of the new society are fatherly tutelage and schoolmaster like disciplines. 7 9 Owen found followers especially in the American continent, where similar experiments, mainly under the guise of religion, had already been carried out. Among them the most prominent is the pietist sect, established in Pennsylvania by Georg Rapp, a Lutheran farmer from Wiirtenberg, which was bought by Owen in 1824, after it had been dissolved and at this very place the colony of New Harmony was settled. 8 0 The activity of Utopian socialists is brought into the lime-light by sociology not on account of their practical consequences, but their influences on the 7 G Dános —Kovács op. cit. 280 p. 7 7 Dános — Kovács op. cit. 283 p. 7 8 Owen, Robert: Committee of the House of Commons on the Poor Law. Parliamentary Papers. 1816. 7 9 Dános —Kovács op. cit. 279-282 pp. 8 0 Dános-Kovács op. cit. 292-293 pp.; Bölöni Farkas, S. : Utazás Észak-Amerikában. (Journey in North America.) Kolozsvár, 1834. 231 — 248 pp. — He reported the life of rappist colonies with the truthfulness or a witness.
