Background
Giovanni Battista Vico was born on June 23, 1868, in Naples, Italy. His family was rather poor. His father, Antonio Vico, was a bookseller, while his mother, Candida Vico, was the daughter of a carriage maker.
historian jurist philosopher rhetorician
Giovanni Battista Vico was born on June 23, 1868, in Naples, Italy. His family was rather poor. His father, Antonio Vico, was a bookseller, while his mother, Candida Vico, was the daughter of a carriage maker.
Vico’s family was poor and they all lived in a house that was also used as a bookstore. In the age of 7 Vico suffered from fractured skull which kept him away from school for three years. He was extremely lucky to survive since even his doctor has predicted death but little Giovanni managed to recover. During this period, as he states in his autobiography, he had to be the teacher of himself. The injury practically forced him to read a lot, although he actually loved reading. Vico would most often do it by the candlelight in a crowded room.
He attended different schools but he always chose which classes he will attend. Vico studied scholastic metaphysics and logic before showing his interest in law. When he was 16 years old he even managed to defend his father in a lawsuit despite not having any legal training. He later managed to complete his law degree.
During his childhood, he tried to escape to the countryside as much as the financial situation allowed him. These field trips were what opened him great horizons and served as the source of his genius, enabling him to give a unique interpretation of all things he has read during his life.
When the epidemic of typhus spread across Naples in 1685, Vico decided to move to Vatolla, where he had the offer to be the tutor to the cousins of the bishop of Ischia. He had stayed in Vatolla for 10 years, and a lot of free time enabled him to continue reading and extending his knowledge in the fields of history, philosophy, ethics and poetry. He focused on the study of Plato, as well as poets like Dante, Virgil, and Petrarch. Vico was secretly in love with one of his students, Giulia Della Rocca, who admired him greatly. Unfortunately, social barriers were an obstacle that couldn’t be surpassed.
He returned to Naples in 1695, where he managed to recover from his obsession of his pupil and married Teresa Caterina Destito in 1699. She was very nice to Vico but she often couldn’t understand him because she didn't have anywhere near such an extensive knowledge like Vico.
That same year he was offered a place at the University of Naples as a professor of rhetoric. As part of his duties, he prepared a lecture for the first day of each academic year until 1708. These essays show how his thought had been developing. However, his first major work was to be published in 1709. Vico called it “On the Study methods of Our Time” and strongly defended liberal education.
His next work that came in 1710, “On the Ancient Wisdom of the Italians Unearthed From the Origins of the Latin Language”, recognized Plato, Grotius, Tacitus and Bacon as the people who influenced Vico the most. Although this work was supposed to be the first part of a trilogy, he never finished the other two volumes.
Although Vico’s job was to make sure students are prepared for law school, he wanted to be promoted to the position of the professor of law, which was considered superior. This is why he published “Universal Law” from 1720 to 1722. It had three volumes and presented its longest work, being a great recommendation for the job. However, due to political influences, he didn’t get chosen for the position.
This disappointed him so he decided to dedicate to his own philosophy. He wanted his thoughts to reach more people, so he started writing in Italian. His greatest work, New Science (Scienza Nuova), was published in 1725. However, he wasn’t completely satisfied with the text so he revised it twice, the first time in 1730 and the second time in 1744. The last variation is considered his definitive work.
Vico sent copies of his work to other influential thinkers throughout Europe but failed to achieve recognition in the north. However, he had a great impact in Venice, and Venetian Journal called him to publish an essay about his life. He accepted the invitation and later modified the essay to publish it as Autobiography.
When Spanish had retaken Naples from the Austrians in 1734, Charles III, the King of Naples, chose Vico to be the new Royal Historiographer of his city. This enabled him much better salary than the professor position which he retained until 1741 when his son Gennaro took over due to Vico’s bad health. He died in 1744 in Naples after a long illness.
(Vico's greates work was first published in 1725, but it w...)
1725Universal Law
(Vico's longest work, which was published between 1720 and...)
1720Vico considered religion to be one of the three principles of history, along with marriage and burial.
He studied law during his life and managed to break through into politics during his later years, when he was chosen as a royal historiographer by the King of Naples Charles III in 1734.
Rene Descartes, the founder of modern classical philosophy, wanted to reform scientific thinking by offering adherence to mathematical reasoning. Vico didn’t share his thinking, which is how he came with verum factum principle he became most famous for. Vico believed that truth (verum) is identical with the creation (factum). Therefore the creators are the only one that can know what they created, Vico presumed that, if God created the world, then only God knows the truth about it, being the one who created it. He also suggests that knowing is a process of constitution or construction and the only one having a complete knowledge about something is the one who made it.
Vico actually believed that Descartes’s theory of absolute knowledge is not on track and deserved criticism. Instead, he asserted that human beings have to pursue “probable knowledge”, considering that they are not the creators of the world and therefore cannot know the complete truth about it. Furthermore, Vico stated that geometry should not be the model of knowledge, but we should rely on prudence methods that we can find throughout human history. He argued that mathematical knowledge is only an artificial construct made by humans, and offers only a partial perspective for seeing the world. Vico claims that using rhetorical reasoning and the “new methodology” should replace geometrical method and analytical reasoning. This “new methodology” should be established by including the knowledge of human history, including the studies of legends and myths. He believed that there is a limit to what mind can know and that absolute knowledge doesn’t exist.
In his greatest work, the Scienza Nuova, Vico also argued that civilization develops in three different recurring cycles – the divine age, the heroic age, and the human age. Each of these ages has clear social and political features. The divine age relies on metaphor to compare and comprehend the human and natural phenomena. Synecdoche and metonymy support the uprising of monarchic or feudal institutions embodied by idealized figures. Finally, the human age has the characteristics of popular democracy and reflection via irony. The rise of rationality leads to the barbarism of reflection, which leads civilization to descend again to the poetic area. Vico discussed that these three recurring ages are common to every nation and constitute ideal eternal history.
Vico held some significant theses for the study of history:
- History has a tendency to repeat itself;
- Process is a spiral movement which includes development rather than a circular repetition;
- Two different periods of history can have similar or identical general characteristics. These periods can be discussed by using analogy;
According to Vico, historians often make these mistakes when studying history:
- One-sided view due to nationalistic pride;
- Idolizing and exaggerating about the past;
- When they find similar institutions or ideas, they presume that one must have learned from the other;
- Speculation that ancients possessed better knowledge of their ages than us;
Vico valued philology, linguistics, legends, mythology, oral tradition and fables for the studies of history. Aside from this, he valued creativity in the literature and arts, and logical analysis by reason.
Quotations: “The criterion and rule of the true is to have made it. Accordingly, our clear and distinct idea of the mind cannot be a criterion of the mind itself, still less of other truths. For while the mind perceives itself, it does not make itself.”
Vico stated in his "Autobiography" piece that he grew up with a certain dose of melancholy and irritable temperament, which is characteristic for men of depth and ingenuity. He firmly believed in his work, and had a valid reason for that. He was very disappointed when his greatest piece, Scienza Nuova, didn't get the attention it deserved. However, he showed strength of character and qucikly bounced back, continuing to work on his philosophy.
Vico married Teresa Caterina Destito in 1699. They had eight children, but three of them died at an early age.