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Vico’s Ring

47

Mutes utter formless sounds by singing and stammerers by singing

teach their tongues to pronounce. Men vent great passions by breaking

into song […]. From [these] axioms […]

it follows

that the founders of

the gentile nations, […] were inexpressive save under the impulse of

violent passions, and formed their first languages by singing (italics

added).

If one considers these statements in the light of stringent de-

ductive rules, as suggested by the phrase “it follows”, they be-

come problematic, as there is, on the one hand, no logical con-

nection between mutes, stammerers, and men in general who

want to vent their reactions, as well as sound, emotion, and

speech, aside from leaving open the possibility of alternative ex-

planations. At best, Vico’s theory is not without a certain plausi-

bility that makes it worth considering, as its status as

degnità

calls

for

103

.

The view entertained here, that Vico’s “Elements” are neither

intended nor conceived in terms of strict, compelling deductive

logic as is the case with Spinoza’s

Ethics,

may seem not to take

into account a key statement in the “Method” section of Book I,

which is the frequently quoted § 349, reading in part:

Now, as geometry, when it constructs the world of quantity out of its

elements, or contemplates that world, is creating it for itself, just so

does our Science [create for itself the world of nations], but with a real-

ity greater by just so much as the institutions having to do with human

affairs are more real than points, lines, surfaces, and figures are

104

.

In speaking of “geometry”, what in fact is Vico referring to?

Or, more specifically, is he referring to the “geometric method”,

which, as we have seen, is deductive logic by another name? This

cannot be answered adequately without taking into account what

Vico had to say elsewhere, in more detail, about

points, line, surfac-

es, and figures

. The best source for his thinking on this subject is

undoubtedly

Liber metaphysicus

in which the epistemological status