Vico’s Ring
21
This figure serves also the purpose of illustrating the narrative
approach that will mainly be taken in the discussion to follow;
rather than proceeding thematically, or sequentially, “horizontal-
ly,” so to speak, that is, segment by segment as they follow each
other, the segments connected by concentric arrows will be con-
sidered together, especially their relation to each other
23
Notes to Chapter 1
12
H. Steinke,
Vico’s Liber metaphysicus: An Inquiry into its Literary Structure,
in
«Laboratorio dell’ISPF
»,
XI, 2014, pp. 1-58, online at <
www.ispf-lab.cnr.it>.
This essay includes a general description and discussion of ring structure (chi-
asmus, concentric structure, circularity), which will therefore not be re-
presented in the current paper, except in the form of brief observations.
13
The establishment of relationships of “circularity” between conceptual
domains in Vico’s thought was already noted by B. Croce, as indicated by a
comment on
Liber metaphysicus
: «Vico seems to be involved in a kind of circle
between geometry and metaphysics, of which the former, according to him,
owes its truth to the latter, and after receiving it gives back again to metaphys-
ics, thus in turn supporting the human science by the divine» (Id.,
The Philoso-
phy of Giambattista Vico
, trans. by R. G. Collingwood, New York, Macmillan
Company, 1913, pp. 12-13; the Italian original can be found at
La Filosofia di
Giambattista Vico,
Bari, Laterza, 6
th
edition, 1962, p. 12). Vico scholars regular-
ly use the term “circular” with respect to relationships that Vico depicts as
intertwined in some sense. The following are just few examples about various
works of Vico: A. Battistini: «Vico’s axioms, definitions, and postulates […]
are not part of a rectilinear deductive chain. Rather, their intermittent appear-
ance is controlled by the circular conception of time» (Id.,
On the Encyclopedic
Structure of the New Science
, cit., p. 22); M. Sanna: «Il
De antiquissima
mostra senza
maschere una circolarità non occasionale nella scelta dei temi proposti (
De an-
tiquissima
openly displays a circularity that is not an incidental byproduct of the
choice of subjects put forward)» (Id.,
Introduzione
, in
De Antiquissima Italorum
Sapientia
:
con traduzione italiana a fronte
, ed. by M. Sanna, Rome, Edizioni di
storia e letteratura, 2005, pp. XVII-XXXV, p. XXXII); J. D. Schaeffer: «The
De constantia
, like the
De uno
, concludes with the image of the circle:
The Divine
Circle of the Law: From God and to God»
(Id.,
Vico’s Il diritto universale and Roman
Law
, in «NVS
»,
19, 2001, pp. 45-60, p. 59); P. Girard: «La
Scienza nuova
con-
stituye pues una especie de círculo, una ida y vuelta en la que la investigacíon