ABSTRACT
The utopias of the Renaissance represented a reaction against its extreme individualism and were an effort to create a new unity among nations. If the utopian writers of the Renaissance owe a great deal to Greek philosophy they are also indebted to the Christian Fathers and to later theologians. All the utopists of the Renaissance insist that work is a duty for all citizens and some of them, like Campanella and Andreae, maintain that all work, even the most menial, is honourable. The splendid artistic and scientific movement of the Renaissance was accompanied by a disintegration of society. The utopias of the Renaissance try to offer a solution to the problems facing a society in the process of evolving a new form of organisation. The land is the principal source of wealth in Utopia, as it was in England at that time, and the Utopians cultivate their land skilfully and none of it is allowed to go to waste.
