The City of the Sun

“A person who does not represent an intelligence based on a talent, a non-creativity, a comprehensive, multifaceted understanding will not be able to learn so much art and science Yet, we are well aware that someone who is limited to realizing his or her skill with the books is ignorant, uneducated and bulky.”

As in other utopias, Campanella's Sun Country has taken its ground from the social environment of its author who lived in and emerged as a product of the critical approach of the environment that Campanella was in imprisonment.

The City of the Sun is a country where a hierarchical state structure is housed and where the priest and philosopher Metafizikus is at the head of the state. That is why Campanella makes a reference to the State of Plato, with an introduction reminiscent of Plato's philosopher king. On the other hand, there are three rulers called the power, wisdom and love related to the Metaphysiology, and Campanella again makes the reader think that Plato might have put forward such a system based on the three-part teaching of the soul. On the contrary, with a Christian side, the father, the son, may be referring to the trinity of the Holy Spirit. If we assume that Campanella replaces the Metaphysiology of God with absolute power, there is one thing that he has changed, that the Metaphysiology is an elected ruler. To this choice, Metaphysiology is both a priest and a philosopher, possessing the power of his wisdom, his intellectual position, taking definitive, unchangeable decisions.

While the concept of family was completely untouched in the utopian tradition of the More’s utopian tradition; While there are concepts such as marriage and coexistence in Utopia, Campanella has created an order in The City of the Sun , which eliminates the concept of family in all its forms. In this sense, Campanella, in a way, has also followed Plato. In the State of Plato, rulers have prohibitions such as forming and marrying families to prevent them from disrupting the administration. In the Sun Country, this applies not only to managers but also to all citizens. What is prohibited in Plato is that it is the whole society that prohibits every class, since Campanella does not establish a class society. The men and women unite with each other, the children born are the state’s children and the society’s children. On the other hand, in The City of the Sun, private property cannot be mentioned.

One of the most important features of The City of the Sun is that it carries the value of an educational utopia. The City of the Sun consists of seven intertwined walls and each wall represents seven distinct artworks. Each wall was decorated with a variety of pictures and narratives, and it was believed that this system, which was visually revealed, would have positive results in education and in all kinds of progress that could only be achieved with education. Education is free and compulsory even for slaves in The City of the Sun. At the end of this compulsory education period, everyone is directed to their work areas according to their ability, and it is impossible to find people who are not aware of art and science, in The City of the Sun.

When we look at all this educational understanding of The City of the Sun, it is in front of the eyes that it sheds light on contemporary education. These are examples of the mixed education system, rather than the punishment, rather than the punishment method, leading to the profession, crafting in line with the skills, and at the same time the lifetime of the whole education process and the references to the value-adding direction of learning. It can be criticized that this system in The City of the Sun imposes a discipline of education that is specific to the human being, imposes some generalized disciplines, goes on to teach from certain classics and differentiates education for everyone. The ability to send non-talented people to the countryside and push them out of the society, reveals the critical parts of the education system that looks perfect.

Aysenur Civelek