Contents:
Prologue 1. Thomas Aquinas 2. Nicolaus Cusanus 3. Francis Bacon 4. René Descartes 5. Thomas Hobbes 6. Giambattiata Vico Epilogue

Is knowing a purely passive reception of something concrete outside the mind, or when we know something are we creating something too?
Spanning more than 500 years of philosophical enquiry from the Middle Ages to the present day, Robert Miner clarifies modern philosophical conceptions of knowing as making or constructing, and contrasts this view with the theological understanding of knowing as a participation in divine creation.
This study demonstrates how 'creative knowledge' has its roots in the theologies of Thomas Aquinas and Nicholas Cusanus. It explores the multiple ways in which this idea influenced the architects of modern philosophy, most notably Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes and Thomas Hobbes, despite their secular stance. Miner contends that, well in advance of Kant, one of these thinkers, Gaimbattista Vico provided a remarkably succinct formulation of the metaphysical and epistemological core of modernity in his principle verum et factum convertuntur: 'the true and the made are convertible'.
In Truth in the Making, Robert Miner challenges the standard assumption that Kant was the first thinker to conceive of knowing as constructive activity, and shows how contemporary theology can reclaim a concept of knowing that is both creative and participant in divine wisdom.

A fresh translation of The New Science, with detailed footnotes that will help both the scholar and the new reader navigate Vico's masterpiece The New Science is the major work of Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico. First published in 1725 and revised in 1730 and 1744, it calls for a reinterpretation of human civilization by tracing the stages of historical development shared by all societies. Almost unknown during his lifetime, the work had a profound influence on later thinkers, from Montesquieu and Marx to Joyce and Gadamer. This edition offers a fresh translation and detailed annotations which enable the reader to track Vico's multiple allusions to other texts. The introduction situates the work firmly within a contemporary context and newly establishes Vico as a thinker of modernity.

A fresh translation of quaestiones from the Summa theologiae of Thomas Aquinas, edited by Robert Miner. This volume provides direct access to the medieval theologian's deepest thinking about the supreme goal of human life-blessedness-and the virtue most intimately related to this goal-charity. The edition also contains Aquinas's treatment of charity's effects-love, joy, peace, and mercy-and the vices opposed to them, such as hatred, envy, and war. Featuring five supplementary essays by noted Aquinas scholars, the volume will enable readers to engage more thoroughly with the thought of Thomas Aquinas.

In this lucid and probing study, Robert C. Miner argues that Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) was the architect of a subversive, genealogical approach to modernity. Miner documents the genesis of Vico's stance toward modernity in the first phase of his thought. Through close examination of his early writings, centering on Vico's critique of Descartes and his elaboration of the 'verum-factum' principle, Vico, Genealogist of Modernity reveals that Vico strives to acknowledge the technical advances of modernity while unmasking its origins in human pride.

Miner's careful analysis of the often neglected Universal Law shows how Vico uses Augustine to articulate a new conception of natural law that mediates between the idealism of Plato and Aristotle and the realism of Tacitus and Machiavelli. Vico emerges as a penetrating reader of traditional philosophy and philology, as well as a radical pioneer of modern historical consciousness.

Miner also traces important connections between Vico's magnum opus, the New Science, and his earlier writings, arguing that the New Science is not merely a work of scientific history. Miner contends that this work is more fundamentally a genealogy that enacts Nietzsche's desire to treat etymology and language as signposts for understanding the development of moral concepts. Miner shows how Vico's genealogy attempts to disclose hidden continuities between the culture of secular modernity and the pagan institutions of idolatry, divination, and sacrifice.

Throughout this engaging work, Miner portrays Vico's genealogy as expressly Augustinian and Catholic, yet sufficiently complex to resist assimilation to reactionary anti-modernism. According to Miner, the goal ofVico's genealogy is to encompass the best of ancient and medieval traditions within an "encyclopedic" fusion of history and philosophy that is both modern and Christian. Although Vico sees the "age of man" as moving toward the "barbarism of reflection, " his trust in divine providence saves him from nihilistic despair. Miner concludes that Vico's thought not only anticipates later efforts to infuse philosophy with historical consciousness, but also contains the seeds of a coherent alternative to the program of postmodern genealogy.

In this lucid and probing study, Robert C. Miner argues that Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) was the architect of a subversive, genealogical approach to modernity. Miner documents the genesis of Vico's stance toward modernity in the first phase of his thought. Through close examination of his early writings, centering on Vico's critique of Descartes and his elaboration of the 'verum-factum' principle, Vico, Genealogist of Modernity reveals that Vico strives to acknowledge the technical advances of modernity while unmasking its origins in human pride.

"This volume comprises a new critical edition and translation of Giambattista Vico's challenging and provoking early work On the Most Ancient Wisdom of the Italians. The Latin edition faithfully reproduces Vico's original 1710 text as first printed; it is accompanied by Jason Taylor's complete, accurate, and highly readable English translation." "In an illuminating introduction to the volume, Robert Miner elucidates Vico's short but difficult work; at the same time, he allows the reader to assess the importance of that work, in absolute terms as well as relative to Vico's other writings and the work of his numerous interlocutors in the republic of letters." "Taken as a whole, this volume provides the text and guidance to support a fresh engagement with Vico's thought, especially his earliest philosophical works. It will also serve as a valuable resource for students and scholars with interests in eighteenth-century thought."--BOOK JACKET.