78 / 298
Horst Steinke
78
the trichotomy, the inherent complexity of such descriptors may
not necessarily be conducive to that end. We are proposing,
therefore, an alternative approach to “untieing the trefoil knot”
that Vico has wrought. This will be the first topic to be taken up
in the next section.
Notes to Chapter 4
125
We are placing quotation marks around the two terms in order to indi-
cate that they refer to their occurrence in Vico, rather than to the modern
sense and current common usage.
126
B. Croce,
The Philosophy of Giambattista Vico
, cit., p. 36; similarly on p. 39.
Croce, of course, approached Vico with his own philosophical presupposi-
tions (i.e. Hegelian idealism), but other readers analogously are not presuppo-
sition-free either, even if not sharing Croce’s particular stance.
127
J. D. Schaeffer gives the alternative translation
On the integrity of jurispru-
dence,
in Id.,
Vico’s Il Diritto universale
and Roman Law
,
in «NVS
»,
19, 2001, pp.
45-62, p. 56.
128
It is important to note that this Part recapitulates, in brief, the essentials
of Book I, commonly, and conveniently, referred to as
De uno
(See, for exam-
ple, R. Ruggiero,
Nova Scientia Tentatur,
cit., p. 128, footnote 1).
129
For discussions of additional aspects of Book II that are not touched
on here, see J. D. Schaeffer,
Introduction
, in
Vico’s Il Diritto universale
and Roman
Law
, cit., pp. XV-XLI, 45-62; R. Ruggiero,
Nova Scientia Tentatur
, cit., pp. 128-
151. We will refer to the First Part as
Philosophy,
to the Second Part, as
Philolo-
gy.
130
R. Ruggiero,
Nova Scientia Tentatur
, cit., p. 129.
131
Quotations are from the translation by J. D. Schaeffer published in
«NVS», 24, 2005, pp. 45-62.
132
See also G. Vico,
Glossary
in
Vico
:
The First New Science
, ed. and trans. by
L. Pompa, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. LVII.
133
See also the earlier references to positive «laws» in Chapter 4, §§ 5, 6.
134
Since
Philosophy
consists of “chapters” that are merely short sections,
some of which are even single paragraphs, it cannot be taken as more than a
schematic outline, but as a result it acquired a density that makes it extremely
difficult, if not impossible, to do it justice by any attempt to “boil it down “
any further, including the present effort.
135
Although these reflections take place at the philosophical level, thus
removed from actual historical reality, Vico does not fail to acknowledge the –