Who represented the utopian ideas of the Renaissance. Social utopias of the Renaissance. Preparation materials

Speaking about the philosophy of freedom of the Renaissance, one cannot fail to mention the social utopias that arose at that time.

Henry VIII did not recognize any authority, neither secular nor ecclesiastical, except the authority of the kings of the Tudor dynasty. After the death of T. More, he was canonized by the Catholic Church.

The social utopia of T. More is set out in the work “The Golden Book, as useful as it is funny about the best structure of the state and about the new island of Utopia” (1516).

In the first part of the work, the philosopher criticizes the existing socio-political order: royal despotism, parasitism and greed of the aristocracy and clergy, the policy of ruining the peasantry, the unreasonableness of the structure, the desire for war.

In the second part, More describes his model of an ideal state - Utopia (from the Greek. u– no + topos– place, i.e. a place that does not exist; according to another version, from the Greek. eu– good + topos– place, i.e. blessed country). Utopia must be headed by a wise monarch, all other positions are elective. Economically, Utopia is a communist state with collective ownership of the means of production. Six hours of daily manual labor, including agricultural work, is mandatory for everyone. Parasitism will be destroyed with the destruction of private property. Slavery was not abolished; slaves (prisoners of war, criminals, convicts) do the hardest work. Distribution is made according to needs. Here luxury is despised and there is no poverty. Society is based on morality. In Utopia, atheism is prohibited under threat of deprivation of citizenship. People must believe in reward after death. Utopians - supporters family life. Divorces are recognized there extremely rarely and only for very good reasons. All children study, adults study science in their free time.

before other theologians, he was forced to leave his homeland. In 1598, Campanella was accused of witchcraft and political conspiracy and sentenced to life imprisonment. While in prison, Campanella wrote most of his works, including his main work, The City of the Sun (1602). In 1626, thanks to the intervention of Pope Urban VIII, he was released. Campanella spent the end of his life in France, where he received a pension from Cardinal Resilier.



Ontology. Campanella is a supporter of organicism. “Everything that moves naturally receives its movement from itself, and not from a special engine.” "The world is huge Living being and we live in his belly." "All things feel."

Social philosophy . Campanella proposed his model of the ideal government structure– communism, where “everything is common,” including wives and children. If there is no private property, then there are neither poor nor rich. Campanella believes that “property is formed among us and is maintained by the fact that we each have our own separate dwellings and our own wives and children.” This means that in the city of the Sun, wives and children should be common. After breastfeeding, the children are handed over to government caregivers. They are then trained in various sciences and trades and given jobs in accordance with their achievements. Technological progress makes it possible to reduce the working day to four hours. The rest of the time in solariums is devoted to personal development. At the head of the state is the supreme ruler "Metaphysician", called the "Sun", with three co-rulers: "Power", in charge of issues of war and peace; “Wisdom”, in charge of the liberal arts, sciences, education; and “Love”, dealing with issues of childbirth, education, medicine, agriculture, cattle breeding, nutrition, clothing, etc. The Big Four are elected for life. But if people appear who are superior to them in their abilities and knowledge, then they must give up their place to them. Tanning salons should be guided ethical principle: what you don’t want for yourself, don’t do it to others, and what you want people to do to you, do it to them.

So, the Renaissance is the era of the flourishing of the arts, sciences, the emergence of the humanistic teachings of F. Petrarch, M. Montaigne, the reformation of Christianity, and new ideas about politics and the state.

The humanists of the era moved away from the dogmatic medieval type of philosophizing and placed man at the center of their worldview. They called on a person to be the creator of himself and the world around him, i.e. to be free.

The emergence of Protestantism means the end of the medieval Catholic mono-ideology, the Christian world becomes more diverse and free. Protestantism proposed the voluntary communal nature of the Christian organization, allowed ordinary people learn biblical truths on your own.

The natural philosophical teachings of N. Copernicus and G. Bruno refuted the Aristotelian and church dogmas about the central position of the Earth in solar system and in space, formed the first scientific picture world, laid the preconditions for the emergence of a real scientific discipline - mechanics.

N. Machiavelli created the first secular doctrine of the state since antiquity, which instructs the sovereign not to be too moral in political matters. T. More and T. Campanella created utopian concepts of states.

In general, we can say that the Renaissance is the era of the beginning of the transition from the dominance of faith to the dominance of reason.

Control questions

1. What does the expression mean? Renaissance humanism?

2. What ideas about freedom are heard in the teachings of F. Petrarch and P. Mirandola?

3. Expand the ethical teaching of M. Montaigne.

4. What are the main differences between Catholicism and Protestantism, which emerged during the Renaissance?

5. List the basic principles of the teachings of M. Luther.

6. What is the uniqueness of the teachings of J. Calvin.

7. What is the significance of the concept of predestination in Protestantism?

9. Formulate the main points political philosophy N. Machiavelli, set out in the work “The Prince”.

10. What arguments in favor of the republican type of government were put forward by N. Machiavelli in his work “Reflections on the first decade of Titus Livius”?

11. What is the purpose of politics, according to Machiavelli?

12. What natural philosophical views were characteristic of the Renaissance?

13. What is the root of knowing ignorance, according to N. Kuzansky?

14. What is pantheism?

15. Reveal the main content of the social utopias of T. More and T. Campanella.

Option No. 11

    Question: Give a description of the social utopias of the Renaissance (using the example of the work of T. More or T. Campanella)?

    Question: What is the view modern science on the basic forms and dialectics of existence?

1 Question: Give a description of the social utopias of the Renaissance (using the example of the work of T. More or T. Campanella)?

Basicfeaturesworldview of Renaissance man

Renaissance XV - XVIII centuries. - the period of the early stage of the crisis of feudalism and the emergence of bourgeois relations. The term “Renaissance” is used to designate the desire of the leading figures of this time to revive the values ​​and ideals of antiquity. However, in this meaning the term “Renaissance” should be interpreted very conditionally. Revival in fact meant the search for the new, and not the restoration of the old. In history it is impossible to turn back, to return to any past era. What you have experienced, accumulated experience and cultural potential cannot be thrown away or overcome. It will still have its impact, since it is this capital that is the economic and cultural environment in which people who are focused on overcoming it have to act. The Middle Ages was such a capital, a legacy for the thinkers and figures of the Renaissance. Although the Renaissance opposes itself to Christianity, it arose as a result of the development of medieval Culture, and therefore bears the imprint of many of its features. Objectively, the Renaissance should be characterized as an era of transition, because it is a bridge to the system of social relations and the Culture of the New Age. It was during this era that the foundations of bourgeois social relations were laid, primarily in the economic sphere, it was during this period that science developed, the relationship between church and state changed, and the ideology of secularism and Humanism was formed.

The most important distinctive feature The worldview of the Renaissance is its focus on man. If the focus of the philosophy of antiquity was natural-cosmic life, and in the Middle Ages - religious life- the problem of “salvation”, then in the Renaissance, secular life, human activity in this world, for the sake of this world, to achieve human happiness in this life, on Earth, comes to the fore. Philosophy is understood as a science that is obliged to help a person find his place in life.

The philosophical thinking of this period can be characterized as anthropocentric. The central figure is not God, but man. God is the beginning of all things, and man is the center of the whole world. Society is not a product of God's will, but the result of human activity. A person in his activities and plans cannot be limited by anything. He can do everything, he can do everything. The Renaissance is characterized by a new level of human self-awareness: pride and self-affirmation, awareness of one's own strength and talent, cheerfulness and free-thinking become the distinctive qualities of the progressive person of that time. Therefore, it was the Renaissance that gave the world a number of outstanding individuals with a bright temperament, comprehensive education, who stood out among people for their will, determination, and enormous energy. The worldview of the people of the Renaissance is of a pronounced humanistic nature. Man in this worldview is interpreted as a free being, the creator of himself and the world around him. The thinkers of the Renaissance, naturally, were not allowed to be atheists or materialists. They believed in God and recognized him as the first creator of the world and man. Having created the world and man, God, in their opinion, gave man free will, and now man must act on his own, determine his entire destiny and win his place in the world. In the philosophy of this era, the motives of the sinful essence of man, the “corruption of his nature” are significantly weakened. The main emphasis is not on God’s help - “grace”, but on man’s own strengths. Optimism, faith and the limitless possibilities of man are inherent in the philosophy of this era.

An important element of the worldview is also the cult of creative activity. During the Renaissance, all activities were perceived differently than in antiquity or the Middle Ages. The ancient Greeks did not value physical labor and even art very highly. The elitist approach to human activity, the highest form of which was declared to be theoretical quests - reflection and contemplation, because it was they that introduced a person to what is eternal, to the very essence of the Cosmos, while material activity immerses him in the transitory world of opinions. Christianity considered the highest form of activity to be that which leads to the “salvation” of the soul - prayer, performing liturgical rituals, reading Holy Scripture. In general, all these types of activities were passive in nature, the nature of contemplation. In the Renaissance, material and sensory activity, including creative activity, acquired a kind of sacred character. In the course of it, a person not only satisfies his earthly needs: he creates new world, beauty, creates the highest thing in the world - himself. It was then that the idea of ​​Prometheism appeared in philosophy - man as the co-creator of the world, a collaborator with God. In the worldview of the Renaissance, there is a rehabilitation of human flesh. In a person, not only his spiritual life matters. Man is a corporeal being. And the body is not “oh you souls” that pull it down and determine sinful thoughts and impulses. Bodily life in itself is valuable. The cult of Beauty, widespread during the Renaissance, is connected with this. Painting depicts, first of all, the human face and the human body. These are General characteristics worldview of Renaissance man. Now let's move on to considering the philosophical teachings themselves.

Philosophical teachingsutopia renaissance

One of the forms of socio-political modification of the Renaissance was utopianism. Utopianism was not as striking a phenomenon as Machiavelli's doctrine. However, the features of Renaissance self-denial are quite noticeable here. The mere fact that the creation of an ideal society was attributed to very distant and completely uncertain times clearly testified to the disbelief of the authors of such a utopia in the possibility of creating an ideal person immediately and as a result of quite elementary efforts of people of the current time. Here almost nothing remained of the Renaissance spontaneous human artistry, which brought such incredible joy to the Renaissance man and forced him to find ideal features already in the state of the society of that time.

The most that has existed in this area so far is confidence in the liberal reforms of the current and immediate present, which inspired the illusion of spontaneous self-assertion of the real person of that time. The Utopians, on the other hand, pushed all this into an indefinite future and thereby revealed their complete disbelief in the ideal artistry of contemporary man.

a) The first utopian of the Renaissance is Thomas More (1478 - 1535), a very liberal-minded English statesman, supporter of the sciences and arts, promoter of religious tolerance and a bright critic of the then feudal and emerging capitalist orders. But he remained a faithful Catholic, opposed Protestantism, and after Henry VIII's defection from the Catholic Church, he was mercilessly executed for his Catholic beliefs. In general, his activities relate to either civil history or literary history. We may be interested here in only one of his works, which was published in 1516. entitled “The Golden Book, as useful as it is funny, on the best structure of the state and on the new island of Utopia,” since the entire aesthetics of the Renaissance is based on the spontaneous self-affirmation of the human personality in the state that More himself considered ideal.

In fact, More's image of the utopian man is a bizarre mixture of all kinds of old and new views, often liberal, often quite reactionary, but, apparently, with one main difference: from the bright Renaissance artistry in More's utopian state, one might say, exactly nothing left. A person is depicted as a rather gray type, apparently governed by a state that is still quite absolutist. Everyone must engage in physical labor according to state distribution, although the sciences and arts are not at all denied, but are even extolled by More, especially music. Society is divided into families, but seven and these are understood rather industrially, due to which membership in one or another family is determined not only by the natural origin of family members, but primarily also by state decrees, by virtue of which family members can be transferred from one family to another for production or other government purposes. More's state also interferes in marriage matters in the most significant way, and much of it is determined simply by state decree. Generally speaking, any religion is allowed, including pagan worship of heavenly bodies. Total religious tolerance is required. Priests must be elected by the people. The activities of atheists are very limited, since the lack religious faith interferes with the moral state of society. In any case, open speeches by atheists are prohibited. In addition, Christianity or monotheism in general is still recognized as the highest religion.

Families are recommended to eat not separately, but in common dining rooms. Except for some isolated cases, everyone should have the same clothes. In this ideal state, slaves also play an important role. Not only is the very institution of slavery affirmed, but it is even shown to be very beneficial both for the state, which receives cheap labor in the form of slaves, and for the entire population of the country, for which slaves turn out to be an example of what not to do. Material pleasures are recognized. However, in More we read: “The Utopians especially value spiritual pleasures, they consider them first and dominant, the predominant part of them comes, in their opinion, from the exercise of virtue and the consciousness of an immaculate life.” In other words, the bright and brilliant artistic aesthetics of the Renaissance are reduced here only to moralism, which is declared to be the highest “spiritual pleasure.”

The glorification of production over consumption is striking. At the same time, More brings to the fore the equalization of work and responsibilities, as well as the primacy of the state over any social organizations and over the family. It is clear that all such features of More's utopianism were associated with the childhood state of the then bourgeois-capitalist society.

But what is more important for us is that this is a modified Renaissance and that this modification is directed by More towards the elimination of the spontaneous-personal and artistic-subjective individualism of the classical Renaissance.

In Campanella’s ideal State of the Sun, like Plato’s, the leaders are philosophers and sages, contemplatives of eternal ideas and, on this basis, who govern the entire state are not so much secular rulers as real priests and clergy. They are the absolute rulers of the entire state and society, down to the smallest everyday regulation. Marriages are carried out only by state decrees, and children, after breastfeeding, are immediately taken away from their mother by the state and raised in special institutions not only without any communication with their parents, but even without any acquaintance with them. Husbands and wives do not exist as such. They are such only in moments of decreed cohabitation. They shouldn't even know each other, just as they shouldn't know their own children. In antiquity, this weakened sense of personality was generally a natural phenomenon, and Plato only took it to its limit. As for the Renaissance, the human personality was already in first place here. And therefore, what we find in Campanella is, of course, a rejection of the ideas of the Renaissance.

Descriptions of countries and regions that never existed, where people are happy and carefree, the land is generous and abundant, the way of life is correct, healthy and reasonable, have existed since ancient times. In folklore and written monuments different nations the inherent desire of people for a golden age of universal equality, brotherhood, love and prosperity was reflected.

Dreams of a perfect structure of society permeate the work of many writers and philosophers of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and subsequent eras. "Paradise" and "The Divine Comedy" by Dante, where the author's ideal is embodied - the patriarchal Florence of the past; The Thelema monastery in "Gargantua and Pantagruel" by Rabelais; "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "The Tempest" by Shakespeare; utopia from Cervantes' Don Quixote; the country of the Houyhnhnms in Swift's Gulliver's Travels - all this is evidence of the country's search for peace, happiness and prosperity 2.

Thomas More "Utopia"

The development of utopian thought was inevitably determined by the political, socio-historical situation, in the Middle Ages - primarily by the unrest of the peasant and urban poor. In the XV-XVI centuries. with the emergence of the bourgeoisie, a new, humanistic worldview was formed. Humanists are the forerunners of the future

1 See: Machiavelli N. The Sovereign // Machiavelli N. Selected Works. Kalinin
grad, 2000. P. 8-85.

2 See: Semibratova I. Traveling through the countries of dreams // Foreign science fiction
prose. M., 1989. P. 5-16.


era of the Enlightenment - believed in the progress of mankind, rejected the pessimistic views of the “church fathers” on the possibility of happiness only in the afterlife, defended the self-worth of the individual and the right of everyone to free existence 1.

At the same time, this era is not without social problems and contradictions. The complex nature of the era was reflected in the work of the English humanist, statesman and writer Thomas More (1478-1535) - his famous work “The Golden Book, as useful as it is funny, about the best structure of the state and about the new island of Utopia” (1516).

In the second part of this book, the author introduces the reader in detail to a carefully developed model of a social system in which there is no private property and not only equality of consumption is introduced (as in early Christian communities), but production and life are socialized. Labor in Utopia is the responsibility of all citizens, distribution occurs according to need, the working day is reduced to six hours; citizens of Utopia are exempted from performing the most difficult jobs.

If we turn in more detail to the areas highlighted in modern social policy - in the same way as we could analyze the social policy of any of the modern countries, then we can note the proposals of the author of “Utopia” for the healthcare sector, the education system, in solving problems of employment and unemployment, providing for old age, family, etc.

So, healthcare in Utopia is distinguished primarily by its free nature. Mohr describes hospitals as spacious white buildings with knowledgeable and caring doctors and staff. Any citizen of Utopia, upon discovering symptoms of a particular disease, can, at his own request, be treated for them completely free of charge.

The state's educational policy is primarily aimed at developing the most gifted representatives of the population. In the daily schedule, the same for all residents of Utopia, there are special hours for classes, which are conducted in the form of lectures. Attendance at such classes is mandatory for selected members of the society, but is also free for everyone.

1 Semibratova I. Decree. op. pp. 5-16.

Utopia maintains full employment. This means that the entire population of working age and capable of working is employed in social production. Unemployment does not exist in Utopia. There is work for all residents; refusal to work is considered parasitism. The working population includes everyone who has reached the appropriate age, with the exception of the crippled (who, however, also has a socially useful occupation), the sick and some other categories. The working day lasts only six hours, but, according to More, this is quite enough to satisfy all the state's needs for products and even produce some surplus.

Residents of Utopia are not afraid of old age. According to the law, the eldest is the head of the family. Old people receive the same rights to housing and food as other members of society.

So, the essence of socio-economic policy in Utopia lies in the fact that the well-being of the state entirely determines the well-being of each of its members. The state takes care of its citizens in all spheres of life, be it family, health, livelihood, education or employment.

Concluding a brief examination of the utopian project of T. More and his ideas regarding the social improvement of the lives of citizens, we note that this project, like other utopian programs, largely anticipated and even prepared future models of social policy of paternalistic social security systems.

“Both our century and subsequent centuries will consider its history a school of true and useful principles, from which everyone will be able to take and adapt the adopted institutions to their own state, because in his book More showed us a model of a blessed life and gave instructions on how to live,” - wrote one of T. More's contemporaries 1.

Tommaso Campanella "City of the Sun"

A significant contribution to the development of the genre of social utopia was made by the Italian philosopher and writer Giovanni Domenico Campanella (1568-1639), who took the name Tommaso as a monk. Written in 1602

1 Introductory letters // Mor T. Utopia. M., 1978. S. 93-94.

3.2 Philosophy of social policy. Conceptual foundations of social policy

According to Campanella's idea, ideal society property must be abolished; labor is compulsory for everyone, the working day is reduced to four hours; Great attention is paid to the development of science, education and labor education. The leadership of the community is in the hands of scientists. The community also takes responsibility for raising children. The social education of children in Campanella's state is carried out first through games. Then learning is combined with labor in the process of mastering various crafts.

According to the author, everything in the city of the sun is designed to put people in the same conditions, thanks to which greed becomes alien to them, wealth and poverty are unknown. Campanella, following Plato, liberates a woman. Free in everything, she is engaged in labor and science on an equal basis with men, with the exception of heavy work.

New time. Thomas Hobbes"Leviathan"

A significant contribution to the development of ideas of social reform and understanding of the possibilities of social improvement was made by the works of thinkers of the Enlightenment.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) - English philosopher, one of the famous creators of the theory of the social contract, in his work “Leviathan, or Matter, the Form and Power of the Church and Civil State” (1651) reflects on the just structure of the state.

The philosopher raises the question of state charity, seeing in it necessary condition fair government: “If many people, due to inevitable accidents, have become unable to support themselves with their labor, then they should not be left to private charity, but the most necessary things for existence should be provided to them by the laws of the state. For, just as it was


Chapter 3 History of social policy

It would be cruelty on the part of anyone to refuse support to a helpless person, just as it would be cruelty on the part of the sovereign - the state - to subject such helpless people to the accidents of indefinite charity."

Important For fair arrangement state has "uniform taxation". The equality of the latter, according to the philosopher, depends not on the equality of wealth, but on the equality of the debt of each person to the state for his protection. “The equality of taxation is determined rather by the equality of consumption,” writes Hobbes, “than by the wealth of those persons who consume equally. For on what basis should the one who works much and, saving the fruits of his labor, consumes little, be more burdened than the one who living carelessly, he acquires little and spends everything he has acquired, while one receives no more protection from the state than another? But when taxes are imposed on what people consume, then everyone pays in proportion to his consumption and the state does not suffer a loss from the extravagance of private individuals? "2.

Essay

The most that has existed in this area so far is confidence in the liberal reforms of the current and immediate present, which inspired the illusion of spontaneous self-assertion of the real person of that time. The Utopians, on the other hand, pushed all this into an indefinite future and thereby revealed their complete disbelief in the ideal artistry of contemporary man. a) The first utopian of the era...

Social utopias of the Renaissance (essay, coursework, diploma, test)

Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Belarus Belarusian State Agrarian Technical University Department of Philosophy and History

Abstract On the topic: Social utopias of the era INrevival

Completed by 1st year student Group 83 I M Zimovskaya M.

1. The main features of the worldview of Renaissance man

2. Philosophical teachings, utopia of the Renaissance Literature

1. Main featuress worldview of a person of the era INrevival

The most important distinguishing feature of the worldview of the Renaissance is its focus on man. If the focus of the philosophy of antiquity was natural-cosmic life, and in the Middle Ages - religious life - the problem of “salvation”, then in the Renaissance, secular life, human activity in this world, for the sake of this world, to achieve human happiness came to the fore. in this life, on Earth. Philosophy is understood as a science that is obliged to help a person find his place in life.

The philosophical thinking of this period can be characterized as anthropocentric. The central figure is not God, but man. God is the beginning of all things, and man is the center of the whole world. Society is not a product of God's will, but the result of human activity. A person in his activities and plans cannot be limited by anything. He can do everything, he can do everything. The Renaissance is characterized by a new level of human self-awareness: pride and self-affirmation, awareness of one's own strength and talent, cheerfulness and free-thinking become the distinctive qualities of the progressive person of that time. Therefore, it was the Renaissance that gave the world a number of outstanding individuals with a bright temperament, comprehensive education, who stood out among people for their will, determination, and enormous energy.

The worldview of the people of the Renaissance is of a clearly humanistic nature. Man in this worldview is interpreted as a free being, the creator of himself and the world around him. Renaissance thinkers, naturally, could not be atheists or materialists. They believed in God and recognized him as the first creator of the world and man. Having created the world and man, God, in their opinion, gave man free will, and now man must act on his own, determine his entire destiny and win his place in the world. In the philosophy of this era, the motives of the sinful essence of man, the “depravity of his nature” are significantly weakened. The main emphasis is not on God’s help - “grace”, but on man’s own strengths. Optimism, faith and the limitless possibilities of man are inherent in the philosophy of this era.

An important element of the worldview is also the culture creative activity. During the Renaissance, all activities were perceived differently than in antiquity or the Middle Ages. The ancient Greeks did not value physical labor and even art very highly. An elitist approach to human activity dominated, the highest form of which was declared to be theoretical quests - reflection and contemplation, because it was they that introduced a person to what is eternal, to the very essence of the Cosmos, while material activity immerses him in the transitory world of opinions. Christianity considered the highest form of activity to be that which leads to the “salvation” of the soul - prayer, performing liturgical rituals, reading the Holy Scriptures. In general, all these types of activities were passive in nature, the nature of contemplation. In the Renaissance, material and sensory activity, including creative activity, acquired a kind of sacred character. In the course of it, a person not only satisfies his earthly needs: he creates a new world, beauty, and creates the highest thing that exists in the world - himself. It was then that the idea of ​​Prometheism appeared in philosophy - man as the co-creator of the world, a collaborator with God. In the worldview of the Renaissance, there is a rehabilitation of human flesh. In a person, not only his spiritual life matters. Man is a corporeal being. And the body is not “oh you souls” that pull it down and determine sinful thoughts and impulses. Bodily life in itself is valuable. The cult of Beauty, widespread during the Renaissance, is connected with this. Painting depicts, first of all, the human face and human body. These are the general characteristics of the worldview of Renaissance man. Now let's move on to considering the philosophical teachings themselves.

2. Philosophical teachings, Utopia INrevival

revival anthropocentric utopianism renaissance One of the forms of socio-political modification of the Renaissance was utopianism. Utopianism was not as striking a phenomenon as Machiavelli's doctrine. However, the features of Renaissance self-denial are quite noticeable here. The mere fact that the creation of an ideal society was attributed to very distant and completely uncertain times clearly testified to the disbelief of the authors of such a utopia in the possibility of creating an ideal person immediately and as a result of quite elementary efforts of people of the current time. Here almost nothing remained of the Renaissance spontaneous human artistry, which brought such incredible joy to the Renaissance man and forced him to find ideal features already in the state of the society of that time.

The most that has existed in this area so far is confidence in the liberal reforms of the current and immediate present, which inspired the illusion of spontaneous self-assertion of the real person of that time. The Utopians, on the other hand, pushed all this into an indefinite future and thereby revealed their complete disbelief in the ideal artistry of contemporary man.

a) The first utopian of the Renaissance is Thomas More (1478−1535), a very liberal-minded English statesman, a supporter of the sciences and arts, a promoter of religious tolerance and a prominent critic of the then feudal and emerging capitalist orders. But he remained a faithful Catholic, opposed Protestantism even after Henry VIII's departure from catholic church was mercilessly executed for his Catholic beliefs. In general, his activities relate to either civil history or literary history. We may be interested here in only one of his works, which was published in 1516 under the title “The Golden Book, as useful as amusing, on the best structure of the state and on the new island of Utopia,” since the entire aesthetics of the Renaissance is based on the spontaneous self-affirmation of the human personality in that state which More himself considered ideal.

In fact, More's image of the utopian man is a bizarre mixture of all kinds of old and new views, often liberal, often quite reactionary, but, apparently, with one main difference: from the bright Renaissance artistry in More's utopian state, one might say, exactly nothing left. A person is depicted as a rather gray type, apparently governed by a state that is still quite absolutist. Everyone must engage in physical labor according to state distribution, although the sciences and arts are not at all denied, but are even extolled by More, especially music.

Society is divided into families, but seven and these are understood rather industrially, due to which membership in one or another family is determined not only by the natural origin of family members, but primarily also by state decrees, by virtue of which family members can be transferred from one family to another for production or other government purposes. More's state also interferes in marriage matters in the most significant way, and much of it is determined simply by state decree. Generally speaking, any religion is allowed, including pagan worship of heavenly bodies. Total religious tolerance is required. Priests must be elected by the people. The activities of atheists are very limited, since the lack of religious faith interferes with the moral state of society. In any case, open speeches by atheists are prohibited. In addition, Christianity or monotheism in general is still recognized as the highest religion.

Families are recommended to eat not separately, but in common dining rooms. Except for some isolated cases, everyone should have the same clothes. In this ideal state, slaves also play an important role. Not only is the very institution of slavery affirmed, but it is even shown to be very beneficial both for the state, which receives cheap labor in the form of slaves, and for the entire population of the country, for which slaves turn out to be an example of what not to do. Material pleasures are recognized. However, in More we read: “The Utopians especially value spiritual pleasures, they consider them first and dominant, the predominant part of them comes, in their opinion, from the exercise of virtue and the consciousness of an immaculate life.” In other words, the bright and brilliant artistic aesthetics of the Renaissance are reduced here only to moralism, which is declared to be the highest “spiritual pleasure.”

The glorification of production over consumption is striking. At the same time, More brings to the fore the equalization of work and responsibilities, as well as the primacy of the state over any social organizations and over the family. It is clear that all such features of More's utopianism were associated with the childhood state of the then bourgeois-capitalist society. But what is more important for us is that this is a modified Renaissance and that this modification is directed by More towards the elimination of the spontaneous-personal and artistic-subjective individualism of the classical Renaissance.

b) Another representative of Renaissance utopianism is Tommaso Campanella (1568−1639). This is a major writer and public figure of his time, who suffered for preparing an anti-Spanish conspiracy in Naples and spent 27 years in prison, a monk and a convinced communist of the early utopian type. The features of early utopian communism appear much more clearly in Campanella than in More. In his 1602 treatise entitled “The City of the Sun,” Campanella highlights the doctrine of labor, the abolition of private property and the community of wives and children, that is, the elimination of the family as the original social unit. More had none of this in vivid form. They talked about the influence of the ideas of early Christianity on Campanella. However, a careful study of Campanella's ideas indicates that this influence is almost zero.

IN ideal State Campanella's suns, like Plato's, are led by philosophers and sages, contemplatives of eternal ideas and on this basis who govern the entire state are not so much secular rulers as real priests and clergy. They are the absolute rulers of the entire state and society, down to the smallest everyday regulation. Marriages are carried out only by state decrees, and children, after breastfeeding, are immediately taken away from their mother by the state and raised in special institutions not only without any communication with their parents, but even without any acquaintance with them. Husbands and wives do not exist as such. They are such only in moments of decreed cohabitation. They shouldn't even know each other, just as they shouldn't know their own children. In antiquity, this weakened sense of personality was generally a natural phenomenon, and Plato only took it to its limit. As for the Renaissance, the human personality was already in first place here. And therefore, what we find in Campanella is, of course, a rejection of the ideas of the Renaissance.

However, it is also impossible to say that Campanella has nothing to do with the Renaissance. He is not only a preacher of positively understood work; his entire utopia undoubtedly bears traces of revivalist views. Therefore, it would be more accurate to say that what we have here is precisely a modified Renaissance and precisely a Renaissance that criticizes itself in socio-political terms.

As for individual details, Campanella's utopians mock those rulers who, when mating horses and dogs, are very careful about their breed, but when mating people do not pay any attention to this breed. In other words, from Campanella's point of view, human society should be transformed into an ideal stud farm. The “chief of childbirth,” subordinate to the ruler of Love, is obliged to enter into such intimacies of sexual life, which we do not consider necessary to talk about here, and astrology is used in sexual matters in the first place. It is pure naivety to indicate that people should wear white clothes during the day, and red ones, woolen or silk, at night and outside the city, and the color black is completely prohibited. The same kind of advice about work, trade, swimming, games, treatment, about getting up in the morning, about astrological techniques for founding cities and many others. When carrying out the death penalty, there are no executioners, so as not to desecrate the state, but the people themselves, and first of all the accuser and witnesses, stone the criminal. The sun is revered in an almost pagan manner, although the true deity is still considered higher. Copernicanism is rejected and heaven is accepted in the medieval sense.

Campanella is striking in his mixture of pagan, Christian, Renaissance, scientific, mythological and entirely superstitious views. Thus, the aesthetically modified Renaissance is depicted in this utopia with its most striking features. The main thing is to ignore that spontaneously human and artistic individualism that distinguished the aesthetics of the Renaissance from the very beginning. If we say that here we find self-criticism and even self-denial of the Renaissance, then we would hardly be mistaken.

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Utopia - genre fiction, close to science fiction, describing a model of an ideal, from the author’s point of view, society. Unlike dystopia, it is characterized by the author’s faith in the impeccability of the model.

Campanella.

Italian philosopher and writer. He was convinced that nature should not be reconstructed according to the works of Aristotle, but studied immanently (remaining within the boundaries of possible experience). He defended the thesis of “double revelation” – nature and Holy Scripture. In his theory of metaphysics, he identified wisdom, power and love as the main principles of existence. He outlined his plan for transforming society in the utopian novel “City of the Sun.” The population of this city-state leads " philosophical life in communism,” that is, it has everything in common, not excluding wives. Personal property, excessive wealth and poverty do not exist because... no one is allowed to have more than is necessary. With the destruction of property, many vices are destroyed in the city of the Sun, all pride disappears and love for the community develops. The people are governed by a supreme high priest, who is called the Metaphysician and is chosen from among the wisest and most learned citizens. Power, Wisdom and Love - the advice of three leaders of all political and political affairs subordinate to Metaphysics public life countries. Power is in charge of matters of war and peace, Wisdom guides science and education, Love takes care of education, agriculture, food, as well as the arrangement of marriages in which “the best children would be born.”

Machiavelli.

Italian thinker, statesman. The author of the first non-religious concept of history, according to which society develops not according to the will of God, but due to natural reasons. He characterized the independence, greatness and power of the state as an ideal, to achieve which politicians must use all possible means, without thinking about the moral side of their actions and civil liberties. The concept of “state interest” was introduced to express the state’s claims to the right not to pay attention to the laws that it is intended to guarantee, if so-called “supreme state interests” require it. Sharing the Christian thesis about the original evil of human nature, he insisted on the expediency of carrying out educational functions in society by the state, and not by the church. He believed that the fundamental feature of any society was fierce competition between people. According to M, it was human egoism and the need to forcibly curb it that gave birth to the state as a special social institution. His utopia "The Prince" is a treatise that describes the character traits, methods of government and skills necessary for an ideal ruler.

“Everyone sees what you appear to be, not everyone knows who you really are.”

Thomas More.

English humanist, writer, statesman. Author of "Utopia" - a book about an ideal society and state. European society of the 16th century, with its acute social problems, is contrasted with a social system in which private property does not exist. Officials are elected by the people, men and women have equal rights, there is no place for religious intolerance and asceticism (a way of life characterized by self-restraint, primarily on pleasure and luxury; extreme modesty and abstinence). The state, represented by the Senate, accounts for and distributes consumer products in the interests of the whole society. All people work, and in this, according to More, main reason happiness and abundance of the Utopians. Utopia reflects the humanistic belief that man is born to be happy.



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