55 / 298
Vico’s Ring
55
63
As is done by Goetsch, on whose account our brief comments are
based. See his
Vico’s Axioms
, cit., pp. 88-90.
64
E.g. the discovery of the general formula for solving cubic equations, at-
tributed to Tartaglia and Cardano.
65
See J. R. Goetsch,
Vico’s Axioms
, cit., pp. 113-115.
66
Ibid.
, p. 116. In leading up to this conclusion, Goetsch explained: «So
not only does Vico say one thing and mean another in the use of geometric
nomenclature […]. He also means to mock the pretensions of Cartesian sci-
ence in pointing to a realm where he thinks a real scienza can be found: the
world of human things» (
ibid.
, 115). In contrast to this view according to
which Vico ironically appropriated the method of geometry only to show up
its inadequacies, Hösle sees the problem in more straightforward terms: «Vico
zeigt, dass er nicht einmal die formale Natur eines Axiomensystems begriffen
hat […] (Vico shows that he did not even grasp the formal nature of an axio-
matic system […])» (Id.,
Einleitung
, cit., p. CXIII).
67
The original Latin full book title is
Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata.
68
Battistini made it clear: «Vico means by the geometric method some-
thing completely different from that of Descartes and Spinoza» (Id.,
On the
Encyclopedic Structure of the New Science
, cit., p. 22). At the same time, he could
not ignore the precedents set by some of the greatest minds of the early mod-
ern age, who themselves were participants in, and of, the cultural currents of
their day: «Chi, come il Vico, mirava […] alla fondazione di una “scienza
nuova” (ed aveva, come termine di confronto, opere quali l’
Ethica
spinoziana,
la
Recherche
di Malebranche e, forse, le proposte leibniziane per l’elaborazione
assiomatica dei «principia» del diritto universale) non poteva davvero evitare la
costruzione di un «modello» sistematico (Who, just as Vico looked for the
foundation of a «new science» (confronted with works like Spinoza’s
Ethics
,
Malebranche’s
Recherche
as well as perhaps Leibniz’s propositions for an axio-
matic formulation of the «principles» of universal law), could not have avoid-
ed building a systematic «model»)». While C. Vasoli made the preceding ob-
servation in the context of a discussion of the
Scienza nuova
of 1725, its main
point applies also to the subsequent (radically reworked) editions (Id.,
Note sul
“metodo” e la “struttura” della Scienza nuova prima
, in «BCSV», XIV-XV (1984-
1985), pp. 21-37, p. 24). Cristofolini also drew a connection between Vico’s
“Elements” and Spinoza’s
Ethics
: «una serie di […] “assiomi o degnità” […] in
qualche modo discendente dagli
Elementi
di Euclide, o dall’
Ethica
di Spinoza»
(a series of […] «axioms or degnità» […] that descended somehow from Eu-
clid’s
Elements
or Spinoza’s
Ethics
)» (Id.,
La Scienza nuova
di Vico
, cit., p. 30).
69
I am taking a page out of D. R. Lachterman’s book, in his discussion of
Spinoza’s critique of Descartes’ physics, in Id.,
The Physics of Spinoza’s ETH-