#18633
Mentioned in 2 episodes

The City of the Sun

Book • 1982
Tommaso Campanella's "The City of the Sun" is a 17th-century utopian novel depicting an ideal society governed by a philosopher-king.

The city is characterized by communal living, strict social control, and the suppression of individual desires.

While presented as a utopia, the book's rigid social structure and authoritarian governance foreshadow elements of totalitarian regimes.

Campanella's work explores themes of social order, religious harmony, and the pursuit of a perfect society, but its methods are often seen as oppressive and unrealistic.

The novel remains a significant example of utopian literature, highlighting both the allure and the potential dangers of striving for an idealized social structure.

Mentioned by

Mentioned in 2 episodes

Mentioned by
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Dorian Lynskey
as an example of a pre-socialist imaginary world.
99 snips
The Birth of Socialism – A Better World is Possible
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Charles Haywood
as an example of philosophers looking to the king to impose their abstract designs, which tend towards tyranny.
27 snips
On Power: The Natural History of Its Growth (Bertrand de Jouvenel)
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Tom Sexton
, referring to a utopian book written by Tommaso Campanella.
Episode 405: A Jobs Program For Neurotics
Mentioned as one of the first Western European utopias.
Machiavelli and the Muqaddimah

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