From Utopias to Cities that Become Learning Ecosystems: An Interpretation of Campanella’s City of the Sun

Abstract

This article illustrates a hermeneutic path aimed at the contextualization of utopian narratives (with greater focus on Campanella’s City of the Sun) within the framework of current educational challenges. Section §1 shows the importance of utopian thinking for contemporary society. Section §2 deals with the issue of how the ideal world relates with the physical one and finds this issue to be a drive of utopian narratives. Section §3 maintains utopias are learning ecosystems: if we follow Halpin’s classification (2001) and consider Searle’s categorization of speech acts (1969) it is possible to recast utopian narratives as a variant of the learning ecosystems described by Toutain et al. in a different context of research (2019). Each of sections §4, §5, and §6 explores an ecosystemic dimension of the City of the Sun: harmony, detachment from material goods, and the educational principles of a community. Section §7 concludes by placing Campanella’s work within the frame of the contemporary educational crisis.