Campanella, Tommaso
From Philosopedia
Campanella, Tommaso (5 September 1568 - 21 May 1639)
During the French Revolution, Marechal cited Campanella as being only a “possible” atheist.
The Italian Renaissance philosopher never left the church, but he had frequent troubles with the authorities. His City of the Sun (1602) is similar to Plato’s Republic in that it designs a utopia, when a new era of earthly felicity should begin.
For non-believers his major importance is that he anticipated what came to be known as the scientific attitude of empiricism. As for his private views on religion, Campanella defended himself when first arrested and tried during the Inquisition.
In Calabria in 1599, he was arrested on charges of heresy against the Spanish Government of Naples. Upon appeal to Rome, he was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in the prison of the Holy Office. He was put to the torture seven times, his torments on one occasion extending over forty hours, but he refused to confess. He was dragged from one prison to another for twenty-seven years, during which he wrote some sonnets, a history of the Spanish monarchy, and several philosophical works. Released from prison by the intervention of Pope Urban VIII, Campanella fled to France, where he met Gassendi, and to Holland, where he met Rene Descartes.
Julian Hibbert has remarked that Campanella’s Atheism Subdued (1631, Atheismus Triumphatus) might better be entitled Atheismus Triumphaus (Atheism Triumphant), for the strongest arguments are on the heterodox side.
