Giambattista Vico

Giambattista Vico or Giovanni Battista Vico (June 23, 1668—January 23, 1744) was a Neapolitan philosopher, historian, and jurist.

Related Topics:
June 23 - 1668 - January 23 - 1744 - Neapolitan - Philosopher - Historian - Jurist

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Vico is famous for his concept of truth as an act, verum factum.

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His major work is the New Science (Scienza Nuova), published in 1725 and, as a completely rewritten work, in 1730. His major idea — that truth is an act, is discussed in this work as a principle of history — that it is made by humans, and so humans are able to fully understand it, just like mathematics, which is product of human imagination.

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Vico suggested study of tradition, mythology and language as methods for investigating history. He is believed to be the pioneer of ethnology. The historical life follows similar pattern — although not in details — in every nation, according to Vico. The first humans thought in mythical terms, universali fantastici or poetic characters. All nations begin by fantasia, the power of imagination and the age of gods which are needed to comprehend the world. After that, there comes a second age in which fantasia is used to form social institutions and heroes are used to inspire moral virtues. The third and final age is the age of rationality, in which humanity declines into barbarie della reflessione — barbarism of reflection. According to Vico, this is a cycle — gods, heroes and humans — which repeats itself within the world of nations,

Related Topics:
Ethnology - Hero

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forming storia ideale eterna — ideal eternal history.

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Vico was an isolated genius, who lived in near poverty and never met a thinker of equivalent magnitude. However, his views have influenced many philosophers in the nineteenth century. Karl Marx studied Vico, and owes much to him. Also, Vico's notion verum factum anticipates pragmatism and pragmaticism of Peirce. He was able to predict historical development of Europe with astounding accuracy. In the 20th century, his ideas of the myth and nation were embraced by James Joyce, as well as Edward W. Said.

Related Topics:
Karl Marx - Pragmatism - Pragmaticism - Peirce - James Joyce - Edward W. Said

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Inaugural Speeches and Language Analysis

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Between 1699 and 1707 Vico gave six inaugural orations to incoming classes at the University of Naples, where he taught rhetoric. Each of the orations was made on October 18th: the feast day of St. Luke. In the second oration, Vico spoke of the many inconsistencies of being human. ??men are lovers of truth but surrounded by errors; they are gifted with reason but subservient to passions; they are admirers of virtue but full of vices; they are searching for happiness but oppressed by miseries; they have a desire for immorality but languish in their idleness?(1993, p, 55)? Speaking of the importance of education, Vico said that the fool declares war against himself, using unrestrained passion as the most powerful weapon of self-destruction (1993, p. 61).?

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Vico believed that one could understand the world view of an ancient culture by examining the meaning of its words. Beginning his analysis of the language of ancient Italians, Vico wrote, ?As I was studying the origins of the Latin language, I noticed that many words were so learned as to seem derived from some inward learning rather than from the vernacular usage of the people (1988, p. 37).? The societal construction of language is, on a grand scale, a way of learning that is very much like the learning that a geometry student accomplishes when working a problem. Using geometry as an example, Vico wrote about the importance of construction, saying ??I wanted it to be taught in the synthetic rather than the analytical way, that is, through demonstration by composition, so that we do not just discover the truth, but make it (1988, p. 104).

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References for this paragraph:

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Vico. G. (1993). On humanistic education. (G. A. Pinton and A. W. Shippee, Trans.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University press. (Original works presented, 1699 ? 1707.

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Vico, G. (1988). On the most ancient wisdom of the Italians. (L. M. Palmer, Trans.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. (Original work published in 1710.

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