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mind is the seat and home of eternal truths» (Chapter 5, §§ 2, 3).
He rejects Stoicism on the basis of its refusal to recognize hu-
man free will, as well as Epicurus’ teaching that «there is only
one category of things, namely body, and whatever is not corpo-
real is void, or nothing» (Chapters 6, 7).
Epicurus comes in for more reproach since as a logical result
of his metaphysics, «[he] did not recognize that the choice of
pleasures must be performed by the mind and cannot be per-
formed by the senses. The choice and comparison of bodies
cannot be an attribute of nothing, since nothingness has no at-
tributes» (Chapter 14, § 2). In contrast to these «gentile/pagan
philosophers», but excepting Plato, Vico holds up «Christian
metaphysics» and «Christian morality» (Chapters 3, 8) as being
«in conformity to truth and reason» since «Christian wisdom […]
commands love for God and charity because of God toward
everyone, whether they are strangers, […] deserving or undeserv-
ing, or even enemies» (Chapter 12, §§ 1-3; Chapter 15, § 5)
135
. It
is hard to improve on Vico’s own succinct summary of his an-
thropology that registers his key determinants of human nature,
«to know, to will, and to be able to do» (Chapter 1, § 1). «As we
meditate on eternal truths with our corrupt mind as much as our
fallen nature permits, we might be able to act in accordance with
eternal truth» (Chapter 15, § 4).
This brief synopsis started with pointing out Vico’s concern
with the philosophical underpinnings of intersubjectivity and
humans as members of community; in the last chapters of
Philol-
ogy
(Chapters 16-20)
,
he comes back full circle to the subject and
question of the rule of law
136
, which after all is the title and sub-
ject of the Book as a whole. Here we choose to highlight only
the following invariants in Vico’s anthropology having a direct
bearing on matters of law and jurisprudence. The first is Vico’s
assertion, right at the beginning of this section, that «human be-
ings are naturally social and that this natural disposition for soci-
ety was planted in us by God through the eternal idea of equity