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The World as Human-Produced World in the Philosophy of Giambattista Vico

The Neapolitan philosopher Giambattista Vico formed the notion of the world, in his antithesis against Descartes’ rationalism, as the human-produced world. The human world is substantially different from the world of nature: history which shapes human world is a human creation and the nature is not. Therefore, we cannot realize the nature or the natural world (which is known only by its creator). Nevertheless, we can realize the history since it is our product (in accordance with the criteria contained in Vico’s famous statement verum et factum convertuntur). In his main work The New Science Vico surpasses quantifying reductionism of rationalist Enlightenment naturalism as well as the traditionalist erudite philologism, but not the dualism of nature and history. Vico’s “new science”, which represents the union of philology and philosophy of history, is based on an examination of the common nature of all people, which refers to all nations, civilizations, and cultures. This new science is focused on discovering the principle according to which people construct their historical world. It is precisely the concept of common human nature which offers an explanation how it is that similar ideas, structures, practices, and institutions develop in different eras and diverse environments. Therefore the world, no matter how diverse and differentiated, essentially is a unique world of humanity. But Vico’s concept of an ideal eternal history (storia ideale eterna) opens the question whether this world is only a product of logic embedded in its very own structure (expressed with the notion of providence). Accordingly, humans can be seen just as executors of that logic and not free creators of their own world.

Giambattista Vico ; nature ; history ; world ; providence

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