Vico’s Ring
213
cal obstacle
482
after another in the path of «achiev[ing] a greater
understanding of its true meaning (
vero sensu
)», stating that
we either have no knowledge at all or but doubtful knowledge of the
authors […], we do not know on what occasion or at what time these
books of unknown authorship were written. Furthermore, we do not
know into whose hands all these books fell, or in whose copies so
many different readings were found, nor yet again whether there were
not many other versions in other hands. […] Deprived of all these
facts we cannot possibly know what was, or could have been, the au-
thor’s intention. […] In the case of certain books […], we do not pos-
sess them in the language in which they were first written [citing the
Gospel of Matthew
,
Epistle to the Hebrews
,
Book of Job
]
483
.
It is difficult not to be overwhelmed by the cumulative impact
of this “blow-by-blow” series of «difficulties». We are thus led
along to arrive at the conclusion that the research program as
originally conceived, in actuality has little if any chance of suc-
ceeding, or stated somewhat more strongly, and likely more ac-
curately, given that all the requisite pieces of information/data
are irretrievably lost, we are deprived of even the first kind of
knowledge as the “raw material” to begin developing the second
kind of knowledge by means of scientific reasoning
484
. His con-
cluding explanatory comments on the subject of studies of the
authors, historical backgrounds, and the integrity of the biblical
“books” shed additional light on the vantage point from which
he approaches such biblical studies. He contrasts biblical studies
with «matters open to intellectual perception, whereof we can
readily form a clear conception (
res, quas et intellectu assequi, et
quarum clarum possumus facile formare conceptum
)». «Intellect» and
«clear conception» are Spinozan code for the intellectual ability,
and the entities within its ambit, that are uniquely associated with
the exercise of «intuitive knowledge». To illustrate their stark
contrast with the unresolvable uncertainties and unknowables of
biblical studies, Spinoza makes the comparison with Euclid and