Horst Steinke, Vico’s Ring. Notes on the“Scienza nuova”, its Structure, and the Hermeneutics of Homer’s Works

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Horst Steinke
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and the indispensability of “philology”, on the other hand. It be-
comes particularly poignant when it is compared with a similar
statement in Philology , that is, the Second Part of Book II of De
uno. In the introductory paragraph, it says: «Philosophy establish-
es the constancy of reason: let us attempt to make philology es-
tablish the constancy of authority». While both “disciplines” are
given their due, no nexus is articulated, much less a relativization
of “philosophy”199. Seen in this context, “philology” assumes a
middle position between “philosophy” and the actual human his-
torical world; its theoretical constructs, “models”, are essential,
epistemically, in mediating200 between the “naked” or “brute”
facts of human culture, history and socio-political reality, on the
one hand, and the most fundamental constants at a philosophical
level201. With reference to the juridical realm, “philosophy” artic-
ulates the fundamental idea of justice and fairness, while positive
law/public policy is part of the real world, but to transform the
ideal of justice into law, first a theory of justice must be developed
or be available 202.
The second level made explicit in Axiom X addresses one
type of tie between “philosophy” and “philology”: “philosophy”
appeals to “philology”, it benefits from the authority of “philolo-
gy”. The epistemic “direction” is therefore from “philology” to
“philosophy”, and it is by its character, a forgetful functor203. In a
transformative process, the specificity of theoretical, conceptual
insights is purposely “forgotten” in the movement to capture the
underlying “truths”. This “functorial” movement can be noted
throughout Philosophy, beginning with Vico’s reflections on hu-
man nature. After acknowledging the ultimate source of truth204,
he delves into an interpretation, rather than merely an account of
the facts, of ethics and law before and after «the fall of Adam»,
including the Roman, Hebrew and Christian worlds. Vico also
credits the theoretical thinking of jurisconsults with leading to
the discovery of philosophical truths205.