Description
Book SynopsisThis classic work is significant both as a source of insight into the influences on the eighteenth-century philosopher's intellectual development and as one of the earliest and most sophisticated examples of philosophical autobiography
Trade ReviewGiambattista Vico, the greatest philosopher of the eighteenth century, is generally considered the founder of the modern philosophy of history.... This autobiography contains not only an account of the basic facts of Vico's personal and professional life, but also a good deal of interesting information concerning his intellectual background and the genesis of his thought. It is hence a good introduction to his major philosophical work, the New Science.
* Philosophical Review *
The Autobiography... as a general survey of Vico's ideas and of the divergences between his theory of society and those of his contemporaries. Especially interesting are Vico's comments on mathematical reasoning and on the difference between the mathematical and historical sciences.... The translators are to be congratulated upon an excellent performance of a task that was eminently worth doing.
* Journal of Philosophy *
Table of ContentsPreface
INTRODUCTION by Max Harold Fisch
I. Porcia's "Proposal" and Vico's Autobiography
II. The Autobiography and the New Science
III. The New Science
A. The European Background
B. The Genesis of the New Science
C. The Principles of the New Science
IV. Vico's Reputation and Influence
A. In Italy
B. In Germany
C. In France
D. In Great Britain and Ireland
E. In the United States
F. In the Marxist TraditionTHE LIFE OF GIAMBATTISTA VICO
Part A, 1725
Part B, 1725, 1728
Continuation by the Author, 1731
Continuation by Villarosa, 1818Notes to the Introduction
Notes to the Autobiography
Supplementary Notes (1962)
Chronological Table
Index of Personal Names
