Utopia, The City of the Sun and New Atlantis as Manifestos of Utopian Ideals in the European Renaissance

Abstract

Speculating on the most efficient forms of government and on the role of religion and science in society, Thomas More, Tommaso Campanella and Francis Bacon shape early modern thought in Europe and anticipate future political theories. In More’s Utopia an intellectual oligarchy reminiscent of Plato governs a republic based on early Christian communities. Campanella’s Civitas Solis is a communist republic governed by wise, learned people. In Bacon’s New Atlantis civic life is organized according to a model of scientific work which the Royal Society will adopt a few decades later. While Renaissance utopian manifestos indicate a firm faith in human capability, they clash with our need for relativism and pluralism. Dystopian authors undermine the confident attitude displayed in utopias by adopting an inquisitive rather than assertive attitude: they do not reassure but generate responses that are both critical and constructive. The haunting appeal of their visions shows that the utopian/dystopian impulse continues to reach the reader or the spectator and always stimulates further visions and proposals.