ABSTRACT
In comparison with More’s Utopia, Campanella’s description of a perfect society known in English as The City of the Sun appears to be both one step back and one step forward. Campanella’s utopia manifests regression in that it has a millenarian inspiration and shows the realization of biblical prophecies in a theocratic society. Thomas More, however, in his Utopia – though not as lord chancellor – argued for toleration of different beliefs and, in principle, expounded the idea of a separation of church and state. On the other hand, Campanella is more modern than More in his firm defense of unrestrained scientific investigation. He shares this scientific orientation with his slightly older contemporary Francis Bacon, but there is no indication that he knew Bacon’s publications, nor that Bacon had more than superficial knowledge of Campanella’s work.
