Table of Contents Table of Contents
Previous Page  23 / 298 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 23 / 298 Next Page
Page Background

Vico’s Ring

23

24. Battistini examines the material in terms of an «organistic epistemology»,

and as a result, the socio-political content “falls through the cracks”, so to

speak (

ibid.

, p. 22). Compare also Sanna’s summary of

Scienza nuova,

entitled

La Scienza Nuova nelle edizioni del 1730 e del 1744

, in

La Scienza nuova

.

Le tre edi-

zioni

, cit., pp. 329-345.

19

According to C. Lucci, «[l]a tesi generale delle tre età, dei loro corsi e dei

loro ricorsi, permette di comprendere la partizione della

Scienza nuova

(1744)

[…] (The general thesis of the three ages, of their course and recourse, allows

us to understand the division of

Scienza nuova

(1744) [in Books I to V])» (Id.,

Vico lettore e interprete dei poemi omerici nella

Scienza nuova (1744):

fra storia, antro-

pologia e antiquaria

, in «BCSV», XLIII, 2013, 1-2 pp. 35-73, p. 38, footnote 3).

Lucci thus seems to imply, if we read her correctly, a ring structure with the

individual Books as such constituting the corresponding segments.

20

See the Appendix for a Table of Contents, adapted from the Begin-

Fisch’s translation, showing paragraph (i.e. §) numeration of major sections.

Vico’s introductory essay, “Idea of the Work”, concerning the frontispiece,

thus, is not included in our examination. This part of the work is highly im-

portant in its own right, but discussion of it is outside the scope chosen for

this essay. According to V. Placella, «si tratta di elementi estranei, o, almeno

[…] esterni al testo, sicché un confronto tra

SN

1725 e

SN

1730 non poteva

che farsi prescindendo da essi (it consists of elements that are extraneous, or,

at least […] external to the text so that a comparison between

SN

1725 and

SN

1730 cannot be made without taking it into consideration)» (Id.,

La manca-

ta edizione veneziana della

Scienza Nuova, in

Vico e Venezia,

ed. by C. de Michelis

and G. Pizzamiglio, Florence, Leo S. Olschki, 1982, pp. 143-182, p. 158).

21

Shown in

The New Science

, cit., p. 28.

22

On Vico’s metaphorical use of “childhood”, see L. Pompa,

Vico and the

Presuppositions of Historical Knowledge,

in

Giambattista Vico’s Science of Humanity

,

cit., pp. 125-140, p. 137.

23

The “classical”, and indispensable, method of exposition of Vico’s over-

all thought is the thematic approach, as witnessed by such works as R. Flint,

Vico

; B. Croce,

The Philosophy of Giambattista Vico

; G. Gentile,

Studi Vichiani

; F.

Amerio,

Introduzione allo Studio di G. B. Vico

; N. Badaloni,

Introduzione a G. B.

Vico

; A. R. Caponigri,

Time and Idea: The Theory of History in Giambattista Vico

; P.

Cristofolini,

La Scienza nuova di Vico. Introduzione alla lettura

; S. Otto,

Giambatti-

sta Vico. Lineamenti della sua filosofia

; G. Cacciatore,

Metaphysik, Poesie und Geschi-

chte. Über die Philosophie von Giambattista Vico

; L. Pompa,

Vico: A Study of the

“New Science”

.

On the other hand, a book-by-book discussion of

Scienza nuova

is relatively

uncommon, among which the following two works should be highlighted: (1)