Historicism is a somewhat obscure term, but one does occasionally encounter it in philosophy, and especially in discussions about the theory and nature of history, so I thought it might be worthwhile to pause for a moment and discuss it. Historicism is the view, first advanced by Giambattista Vico, and later rediscovered (apparently independently) by German historians, that Continue Reading …
Philosophy of History, Part II: Giambattista Vico, Philology, and the Origins of Historicism
The true and the made are convertible. (Verum Factum) The inspiration for Giambattista Vico’s (1668–1744) philosophy of history was the work of Rene Descartes (1596–1650), who boldly declared that he would believe nothing that could not be demonstrated through reason alone. Descartes, like most philosophers before Newton, modeled his thought on geometry—which is to say, he Continue Reading …
Timothy Brennan On Baruch Spinoza and Giambattista Vico
[Editor's Note: Here's a post by Chris Mullen, one of our frequent Facebook group posters.] Not too long ago I purchased a cheaply priced, used copy of Vico's The New Science, which I recently started to read (there are two things in life that I can always find justification for spending money on: beer and books). While doing some research on Vico, I came across an Continue Reading …