Donald Phillip Verene
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781501700163
- eISBN:
- 9781501701863
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501700163.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Giambattista Vico (1668–1744) is best remembered for his major work, the New Science (Scienza nuova), in which he sets forth the principles of humanity and gives an account of the stages common to ...
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Giambattista Vico (1668–1744) is best remembered for his major work, the New Science (Scienza nuova), in which he sets forth the principles of humanity and gives an account of the stages common to the development of all societies in their historical life. Controversial at the time of its publication in 1725, the New Science has come to be seen as the most ambitious attempt before Auguste Comte at a comprehensive science of human society and the most profound analysis of the philosophy of history prior to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. This book can be read as an introduction to Vico’s thought or it can be employed as a guide to the comprehension of specific sections of the New Science. The book offers a clear and direct discussion of the contents of each division of the New Science with close attention to the sources of Vico’s thought in Greek philosophy and in Roman jurisprudence. It also highlights the grounding of the New Science in Vico’s other works and the opposition of Vico’s views to those of the seventeenth-century natural-law theorists. The addition of an extensive glossary of Vico’s Italian terminology makes this an ideal companion to Vico’s masterpiece.Less
Giambattista Vico (1668–1744) is best remembered for his major work, the New Science (Scienza nuova), in which he sets forth the principles of humanity and gives an account of the stages common to the development of all societies in their historical life. Controversial at the time of its publication in 1725, the New Science has come to be seen as the most ambitious attempt before Auguste Comte at a comprehensive science of human society and the most profound analysis of the philosophy of history prior to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. This book can be read as an introduction to Vico’s thought or it can be employed as a guide to the comprehension of specific sections of the New Science. The book offers a clear and direct discussion of the contents of each division of the New Science with close attention to the sources of Vico’s thought in Greek philosophy and in Roman jurisprudence. It also highlights the grounding of the New Science in Vico’s other works and the opposition of Vico’s views to those of the seventeenth-century natural-law theorists. The addition of an extensive glossary of Vico’s Italian terminology makes this an ideal companion to Vico’s masterpiece.
