Horst Steinke, Vico’s Ring. Notes on the“Scienza nuova”, its Structure, and the Hermeneutics of Homer’s Works

Vico’s Ring

terms of stylistic rather than formal logical features

. Goetsch

went even further and saw it as «witty conceit»

Despite the plausibility of these assessments that seem to

complement rather conflict with each other, we will attempt to

approach the matter from a different angle, more obliquely if you

will. As noted above in the introduction, Spinoza’s own master-

piece,

Ethics

, will serve as the means of comparison and con-

trast

. By way of clarification, it needs to be added that this dis-

cussion of Spinoza’s greatest work is not for its own sake, but

rather only to the extent that it serves to bring Vico’s

Scienza

nuova

, more specifically, the “Elements”, into sharper focus

. To

that end, our main interest will be in its formal structure rather

than its philosophical propositions. The presentation of philoso-

phy in the axiomatic manner pioneered by Euclid for geometry

– for which we will use the term “geometric method” for con-

venience, and by convention –, of course, was not Spinoza’s in-

vention, and it seems that Spinoza was particularly impressed by

Hobbes and his works

De Cive

(

On the citizen

)

and

De Corpore

(

the body

)

In Spinoza studies, there is a considerable degree of ambiva-

lence about the purpose and meaning of the geometric method

Ethics

. Some readers have focused on the fact that the book

title says

ordine geometrico

rather than

more geometrico

. They argue

that geometric “order” is to be distinguished from geometric

“method”, in the sense that “order” denotes just the manner of

presentation and thus lacks deeper philosophical significance

Undoubtedly, the

material in Ethics is arranged in an orderly and pro-

gressive sequence, from ontology to ethics

, beginning with Part I, con-

cerning “God”

, followed by Part II, concerning the origin and

nature of “Mind/Thinking”, both on the part of “God” and

humans; Part III and IV, concerning human “emotions”; and

Part V, concerning human “freedom”. Another reason why the

paradigm of “order” is preferred is that if the geomet-

ric/axiomatic method is taken to consist of «linear deduction