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Long a shadowy figure in the history of philosophy, it was only in
the twentieth century that Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) achieved
renown as a major and original thinker. There has been a steadily
widening interest in this figure who, had he been known in his own
day, might have altered the course of European thought. Much has
been written in an attempt to clarify his historical stature, but
in Time and Idea A. Robert Caponigri approaches Vico's thought in
terms of its relevance to problems of modern philosophy. Viewing
the essential problem of twentieth-century philosophy as the
elimination of human subjectivity from nature, Caponigri shows how
Vico offers us a principle for the vindication of our own
spirituality through history.In Caponigri's reading, Vico
establishes an absolute dichotomy between nature and history. The
latter is seen as the sum of the active, fully realized human
spirit and thus the context for the true understanding of human
nature. Although Vico's major work, The New Science, incorporates
vast amounts of concrete historical research and contruction,
Caponigri's focus is on Vico's theoretical apparatus. Following an
introductory biographical chapter, the author turns to Vico's
theory of history, emphasizing its importance as a genuine
philosophical undertaking rather than mere methodology. Caponigri
shows how the speculative problem of history first presented itself
to Vico in matters of jurisprudence and natural law from which he
derived the concepts of time and idea as the terms in which the
historical process of culture becomes comprehensible. He then
introduces the human subject as the principle of the synthesis of
time and idea, and discusses the Vichian concept of the
"modification of the human mind," and his idea of "providence" as
the rectifying principle of human history.First published in 1953,
Time and Idea remains an essential contribution to the ongoing
dialog on Vico's work.
Long a shadowy figure in the history of philosophy, it was only in
the twentieth century that Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) achieved
renown as a major and original thinker. There has been a steadily
widening interest in this figure who, had he been known in his own
day, might have altered the course of European thought. Much has
been written in an attempt to clarify his historical stature, but
in "Time and Idea" A. Robert Caponigri approaches Vico's thought in
terms of its relevance to problems of modern philosophy. Viewing
the essential problem of twentieth-century philosophy as the
elimination of human subjectivity from nature, Caponigri shows how
Vico offers us a principle for the vindication of our own
spirituality through history.
In Caponigri's reading, Vico establishes an absolute dichotomy
between nature and history. The latter is seen as the sum of the
active, fully realized human spirit and thus the context for the
true understanding of human nature. Although Vico's major work,
"The New Science," incorporates vast amounts of concrete historical
research and contruction, Caponigri's focus is on Vico's
theoretical apparatus. Following an introductory biographical
chapter, the author turns to Vico's theory of history, emphasizing
its importance as a genuine philosophical undertaking rather than
mere methodology. Caponigri shows how the speculative problem of
history first presented itself to Vico in matters of jurisprudence
and natural law from which he derived the concepts of time and idea
as the terms in which the historical process of culture becomes
comprehensible. He then introduces the human subject as the
principle of the synthesis of time and idea, and discusses the
Vichian concept of the "modification of the human mind," and his
idea of "providence" as the rectifying principle of human history.
First published in 1953, "Time and Idea" remains an essential
contribution to the ongoing dialog on Vico's work.
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