On the Most Ancient Wisdom of the Italians
1988
First Published
4.05
Average Rating
207
Number of Pages
Part of Series
This volume comprises a new critical edition of Vico’s original Latin text and a faithful translation of this early work on metaphysics. Robert Miner’s introduction offers valuable guidance in understanding this challenging text and assessing its significance.
Avg Rating
4.05
Number of Ratings
19
5 STARS
42%
4 STARS
32%
3 STARS
16%
2 STARS
11%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads
Author
Giambattista Vico
Author · 6 books
Giovanni Battista (Giambattista) Vico or Vigo was an Italian political philosopher, rhetorician, historian, and jurist. A critic of modern rationalism and apologist of classical antiquity, Vico's magnum opus is titled "Principles/Origins of [re]New[ed] Science about the Common Nature of Nations" (Principi di Scienza Nuova d'intorno alla Comune Natura delle Nazioni). The work is explicitly presented as a "Science of reasoning" (Scienza di ragionare), and includes a dialectic between axioms (authoritative maxims) and "reasonings" (ragionamenti) linking and clarifying the axioms. Vico is often claimed to have inaugurated modern philosophy of history, although the expression is alien from Vico's text (Vico speaks of a "history of philosophy narrated philosophically"). He is otherwise well-known for noting that verum esse ipsum factum ("true itself is fact" or "the true itself is made"), a proposition that has been read as an early instance of constructivist epistemology. Overall, the contemporary interest in Vico has been driven by peculiarly historicist interests as expressed most notably by Isaiah Berlin, Tagliacozzo, Verene, and Hayden White.
