The New Science

Vico's immense view and creativity is expressed at the outset with his Tableau of Civil Institutions: a graphical representation of his incredible work; this alone underscores the reason for Joyce's sparked imagination. The greatness of this work is in its deep structure and layers of examination. I came upon this work looking for references to Sanchuniathon, a little known historian preceding Herodotus. Vico inspires many epiphanic perspectives including the kernel of wisdom as piety, mythologies: the allegories of myths, and the origin of aristocracy, democracy and monarchy. Vico moves across many subjects making extensive and resolute political analysis of each one including, notably, the origin of Roman Assemblies and the oath of enmity the heroes swore against the plebeians. Any student of politics can find notions truly relevant to the present, such as under: Section 13 Chapter 1 "Further Proofs Drawn from Mixed Commonwealths Which Combine Earlier Governments with Later States" Where Vico writes: "The newly free peoples found themselves masters of their own sovereign powers...By pursuing their own private interests, free peoples let themselves be seduced by the powerful into subjecting their own public freedom to the ambition of others." To sum, this is an epic tome that is explicative and introspective. Vico dives deeply down to the grit and spirit of the ties that bind us and that forge our societies: citizenship, marriage, religion and death.

Several people asked where Vico is taught / who studies Vico. The Graduate Institute at St. John's College (Great Books program) studies Vico in the History segment, which is really Philosophy of History, for 8 classes, 1/4 of the one of the three History classes. The Great Books people seem to have thought Vico was worth reading. The late philosopher Eric Voegelin wrote an essay in the compendium "Order and History" singling out Vico's work for its insights and calling for scholars to take up the "New Science." At Emory University Donald Philip Verene runs the Institute for Vico studies. There are also many collections of essays on Vico by both American and European scholars. St. John's College library in Annapolis has a good number of them. The structure Vico employs is unusual, don't let it throw you. It's written in numbered axioms and conclusions so he can refer to and connect ideas numerically for convenience. You see versions of Vico's ideas in movies today like I Am Legend, this book also was the basis for Joyce's Finnegan's Wake. As to how to approach the book, don't get bogged down in every detail/idea, some are just establishing facts as stepping stones so that he can prove larger things later in the big picture; the numbered ideas are not necessarily sequential but do connect together synthetically around a theme. There is an definite ending (in the Conclusion) regarding the culmination of civilization which is what you want to get to, but without understanding how you got there it is significantly more hollow, so at least understand the trajectory of the earlier chapters first. To avoid getting bogged down or disoriented I would suggest the reading sequence listed on the St. John's College Grad Institute website. You can download the Graduate Reading List for History free. Remember to get to the end, otherwise you missed the big picture.

When I read Vico in a public space--subway, park bench, stoop--I always fear that someone will approach me and ask what his "general thing" is. Even after reading this book for a few years, I still really don't know. I'd probably say something like "it's about history and poetry and salt marshes and thunder." Still, Joyce said that reading Vico made his imagination grow. I completely agree. Even if you get frustrated with a few vague aphorisms, you can always blame the fact that Vico fell off a ladder as a child and damaged his brain--whatever. Read to understand, but if you don't understand, still read. This is a truly remarkable book.

Most people come to Vico for one of three reasons: historical perspective (fans of Spengler), philosophical curiosity (fans of Marx), or literary insight (fans of Joyce). Regardless of the motivation, the reader will be confronted with a highly unconventional text at first: the open of the book is an overlong explanation of the bookplate. Then we are faced with a collection of Nietzschian aphorisms. By the third part of the book, if the second part hasn't trigged an interest, the explication of parts 1 and 2 grab and take hold of the reader. The result? Once the reader finishes the book, the seemingly obtuse open seems perfectly reasonable for in the course of the text for Vico assimilates history, anthropology, philosophy, philology, and genealogy into a comprehensive whole which is perfectly symbolized by the bookplate. Though, at times, his premises seem rather far-fetched (Vico himself notes this), the intent of the work is rarely obscured. The only complaint? Perhaps Vico could have expanded the work more to make his attempted scope and range cohere better. But then, Frazier did this in a similar work (The Golden Bough) and we have 12 volumes to show for it!

This is a very unusual book. It is an unorthodox view of history that became the source of inspiration to a diverse group of scholars such as Karl Marx, James Joyce and Marshall McLuhan. It was my reading of McLuhan that caused me to seek out Vico, and therefore, read this book.If you have an interest in words and entomology, this is a book for you. Vico looks for the origin of civilization in the origin of words, and proposes theories that provoke thoughtful reflection. McLuhan used Vico to chart the future of civilization, as did Joyce.It is impossible to sum-up this book in a few words, and it is difficult to explain why it is worth reading, but nonetheless, I recommend it to those of you who have stumbled upon it here. If you've gotten to this page, of the 800 million pages in cyberspace, then you are probably someone who should read Vico.If you've never read Vico before, I highly recommend his autobiography, which contains a scholarly overview of Vico and his thought. It is a slimmer volume than this one, and could help you decide to read-on.