When is astrology «Too much»? Tommaso Campanella on judicial astrology and free will

Abstract

This article examines Tommaso Campanella’s defence of astrology against accusations of undermining free will, focusing primarily on his little-known Disputatio contra murmurantes (1636), composed in response to Urban VIII’s bull Inscrutabilis condemning judicial astrology. Campanella navigates a delicate equilibrium: astrology, properly practised, is an expression of human liberty and intellectual freedom, affording the capacity to understand celestial influences; yet when deployed excessively or dogmatically, it becomes restrictive rather than liberating. Through careful distinctions between permitted natural astrology and forbidden divinatory superstition, and by establishing different grades of astrological knowledge, Campanella carves out substantial space for legitimate astrological practice – including the medical and dispositional astrology he himself employed – whilst at the same time defending papal authority, political stability, and human freedom. The article also shows that the astrological dialogue added to the definitive edition of The City of the Sun (1637), where the Hospitaller accuses the Solarians of relying «too much» on the stars, draws directly upon arguments developed in the Disputatio.