12 / 298
Horst Steinke
12
literary structure encompasses the entire work, it will provide the
necessary opportunities to address the three major topics out-
lined above at the points they make their appearance in the work.
Notes to the Introduction
1
Unless otherwise indicated, the 1744 edition is meant, in particular the
English translation as
The New Science of Giambattista Vico,
trans. by Th. G.
Bergin and M. H. Fisch, Ithaca-London, Cornell University Press, 1948; sec-
ond printing 1986). References will be shown by their paragraph numbers in
the body of the text rather than in the endnotes; as the translators explain in
their Preface, they follow Fausto Nicolini’s numbering of paragraphs (
ibid.
, pp.
V-VIII, p. V). A more recent translation is
New Science. Principles of the New Sci-
ence concerning the Common Nature of Nations
, trans. by D. Marsh, London, Pen-
guin Books, 1999. See the review by D. Ph. Verene,
On Translating Vico: The
Penguin Classics Edition of the New Science
, in «New Vico Studies
»
(henceforth
referred to as «NVS
»
), 17, 1999, pp. 85-107.
2
G. Vico,
On the Most Ancient Wisdom of the Italians, Including the Disputation
with the Giornale de’ letterati d’Italia
, trans. by L. M. Palmer, Ithaca-London, Cor-
nell University Press, 1988, p. 181.
3
See J. R. Goetsch Jr.,
Vico’s Axioms: The Geometry of the Human World,
New Haven-London, Yale University Press, 1995, to which more specific ref-
erence will be made later. As A. Battistini pointed out: «Vico means by the
geometric method something completely different from that of Descartes and
Spinoza» (Id.,
On the Encyclopedic Structure of the New Science
, in «NVS
»,
12, 1994,
pp. 16-31, p. 22).
4
In order of appearance: S. Otto,
“Contextualidad” científica y “convertibilidad”
filosófica. La respuesta de la Scienza Nuova a la crisis epistemológica de la primera moder-
nidad
, trans. by L. Ch. Caballero, in «Cuadernos sobre Vico
»
(henceforth refer-
red to as «CsV
»
, online at <
http://institucional.us.es/cuadernosvico>), 15-16,
2003, pp. 163-177, p. 165; G. Cacciatore,
Vico: Narración histórica y narración fan-
tástica
, trans. by J. Sánchez Espillaque, in «CsV
»,
23-24, 2009-2010, pp. 15-31,
p. 26; F. Botturi,
Ermeneutica del mito ed esperienza etica in Giambattista Vico
, in
Pensar para el nuevo siglo. Giambattista Vico y la cultura europea
, vol. II, ed. by E.
Hidalgo-Serna, M. Marassi, J.M. Sevilla, J. Villalobos, Naples, La Città del
Sole, 2001, pp. 275-294, pp. 275-276; B. A. Haddock,
Heroes and the Law: Vico
on the Foundations of Political Order
, in «NVS
»,
19, 2001, pp. 29-41, p. 32.
5
Mazzotta’s comments about Benedetto Croce’s views in this matter basi-
cally might also apply to other students of the question: «In placing Vico’s re-