Time and Idea

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TIME AND IDEA
The Theory of History in Giambattista Vico A. Robert Caponigri
In earlier times speculation on history led inevitably to the thought of one great figure, St. Augustine. In the modern age it leads to the thought of Giambattista Vico, the Italian philosopher of the eighteenth century, whose New Science ranks with justice by the side of the City of God. On the continent of Europe a vast body of literature has grown up about Vico; but in English his thought is relatively little known, in spite of the large literature in English on the problem of history.
The present work has the single intention of presenting Vico's theory of history in its most inclusive theoretical form. It identifies the heart of the problem of history as lying, for Vico, in the very Platonic issue of the relation of time and idea. The intention of his theory of history was to reestablish, against all forms of eternism, the essential ideality of history as a time process. The steps by which he... Tovább

Fülszöveg

TIME AND IDEA
The Theory of History in Giambattista Vico A. Robert Caponigri
In earlier times speculation on history led inevitably to the thought of one great figure, St. Augustine. In the modern age it leads to the thought of Giambattista Vico, the Italian philosopher of the eighteenth century, whose New Science ranks with justice by the side of the City of God. On the continent of Europe a vast body of literature has grown up about Vico; but in English his thought is relatively little known, in spite of the large literature in English on the problem of history.
The present work has the single intention of presenting Vico's theory of history in its most inclusive theoretical form. It identifies the heart of the problem of history as lying, for Vico, in the very Platonic issue of the relation of time and idea. The intention of his theory of history was to reestablish, against all forms of eternism, the essential ideality of history as a time process. The steps by which he sought to effect the union—the great doctrines of modifications of the human mind, of the identity of thought and action, of Providence, of "ricorso"—are traced in detail, as well as the steps by which Vico avoided the classical pitfalls of the philosophy of history, utopianism, pessimism, eschatologism, moralism. Special emphasis is laid on the methodological doctrines, those of art, language and myth, which have universal interest for historical thought even when his total theory proves uncongenial.
Dr. A. Robert Caponigri is professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is the translator of Major Trends in Mexican Philosophy and Contemporary Spanish Philosophy which are both publications of the University of Notre Dame Press.
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS
NOTRE DAME '' LONDON Vissza