The Metaphysical Implications of Campanella’s Notion of Fiction

Campanella’s notion of fiction (fabula) hinges upon a multilayered view of reality based on a series of ontological divisions: ens rationis divinae, ens reale, ens rationis, ens irrationalitatis and non ens. They identify levels of being that span the full range of reality, from a minimum to a maximum degree (an ontological spectrum that in Campanella’s philosophy is closely connected to the Telesian criterion of self-preservation). According to Campanella, any human foray into the territories of ‘being of reason’, ‘being of unreason’ and even ‘non being’ is always balanced by a natural ‘return’ to being and reality. This article intends to contextualise Campanella’s views on fiction within the broader framework of his metaphysics.