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Vico, Giambattista or Giovanni Battista Vico; (1668 - 1744)
Italian historical philosopher:

Vico was one of the first philosophers to attempt a critical philosophy of history. He rejected Descartes' negative attitude to the study of history and argued that philosophers had underrated the study of the world of nations, which since men made it, men should come to know. Language, ritual, and myth were, he maintained, essential clues to an understanding to the past. His ideas were particularly influential in the later 18th century.

The Macmillan Encyclopedia, © Market House Books Ltd 2003


Vico, Giambattista (1668 - 1744)

Italian philosopher of history. He was Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Naples (1699-1741). Main work: Scienza nuova (3rd edition, 1744). Despite his reputation as the propounder of a cyclical theory of history, Vico's chief claim to fame rests upon his original conception of the presuppositions and methods of historical enquiry. He held that, because the 'world of nations' had been made by men, it was open to modes of understanding quite distinct from those available in the investigation of the physical Universe; thus a deep divide separated historical studies from the natural sciences. Vico also attacked the notion that human nature remains invariant from age to age. Radical divergences of outlook manifested themselves at different stages of human development, divergences that could only be imaginatively grasped through the critical interpretation of such cultural phenomena as language, law, myth, and ritual.

A Dictionary of Philosophy, Market House Books Limited, Aylesbury, 1983, 2002