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Horst Steinke

52

laws and pacts» (italics added). This distinction that is so fundamental to Vico,

is also the way with which he brings segment

B’

to a close (in reverse order):

«Hence, with regard to what is just, the

certain

began in mute times with the

body. […] And finally, when our human reason was fully developed, it

reached its end in the

true

in the ideas themselves with regard to what is just»

(§ 1045; italics added).

49

G. Mazzotta,

The New Map of the World

, cit., p. 165; a discussion of the

entire section at

ibid.

, pp. 165-173; see also V. Hösle,

Einleitung,

cit., pp. CCIV-

CCXIX.

50

«Vico […] devote[s] a substantial portion of his discussion to Jean

Bodin’s theory that monarchy is the government institution best suited to

human nature in the reflective third age» (G. Mazzotta,

The New Map of the

World

, cit., p. 168). Hösle’s overall view on the polemic is: «Auch wenn seine

Polemik gegen Bodin auf verworrenen Erinnerungen und Missverständnissen

beruht und als verfehlt abzuweisen ist, ändert das nichts an dem Wert seiner

Erkenntnis, dass die Monarchien dem Prinzip der Rechtsgleichheit günstiger

gesinnt seien als die Aristokratien, in denen es zwei Klassen von Bürgern gibt

(Even though his polemic against Bodin rests on confused recall and misun-

derstandings and thus needs to be rejected, this does invalidate his insight that

the monarchies are more favorably disposed toward the principle of equal

treatment under the law than the aristocracies which are based on two classes

of citizens)» (V. Hösle,

Einleitung

, cit., p. CCXIV).

51

E.g. §§ 394-398; according to M. Scalercio: «A Grozio rimprovera di

aver concepito un sistema professandone l’efficacia anche in assenza di ogni

cognizione di Dio, ossia senza alcuna cognizione della divinità provvedente; a

Selden contesta la supposizione che tutte le norme morali siano state trasmes-

si dai gentili; a Pufendorf contesta l’assenza del principio di provvedenza (He

criticizes Grotius for having articulated a system claiming validity even in the

absence of any recognition of God, that is, without any recognition of provi-

dent divinity; he disagrees with Selden regarding the assumption that all moral

norms are transmitted by the gentile peoples; he disagrees with Pufendorf re-

garding the absence of the principle of providence)» (Id.,

La teologia politica vi-

chiana. La figura della divinizione nella teologia civile della Scienza nuova

, in

Razionalità

e modernità in Vico

, cit., pp.

197-217, p. 216).

52

The vehemence of his characterization is conspicuous when compared

with his earlier expressed appreciation for Bodin («equally learned as jurist and

as statesman», § 952). See S. Caramella,

Vico, Tacitus, and Reason of State

, trans.

by A. W. Salomone, in

Giambattista Vico: An International Symposium

, ed. by G.

Tagliacozzo and H. V. White, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press, 1969, pp. 29-

37, p. 31; also G. Mazzotta,

The New Map of the World

, cit., pp. 177-178. On