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sugarbvn's review against another edition
1.0
I truly believe that this is a work of a madman. I don't know how people enjoy reading this book, or even find Vico intelligent. He makes outrageous and nonsensical claims about history, and provides no facts at all. We are witnessing a mental illness ladies and gentlemen!!
s_books's review against another edition
1.0
DID NOT FINISH
This is absolute rubbish. Vico is quoting other authors and then making the most outrageous claims (e.g. Giants came from wallowing in their own filth, nobody had ever heard of the Jews which proves they are the most ancient people, etc.) without referring to anything to support his claims. Such a waste of time.
This is absolute rubbish. Vico is quoting other authors and then making the most outrageous claims (e.g. Giants came from wallowing in their own filth, nobody had ever heard of the Jews which proves they are the most ancient people, etc.) without referring to anything to support his claims. Such a waste of time.
therealesioan's review against another edition
5.0
It's mAAD how underappreciated Vico is as the father of sociology. Aside from his crucial influence over Joyce's Finnegans Wake, there's a whole swathe of critical theory in here. From Marx's dialectical history to Durkheime's analysis of nations. There's even postmodern thinking in here in regard to Vico's theory of how we construct religion and customs - and hence why we should be able to understand society first and foremost ahead of God.
His historical and mythological analysis here is particularly tantalizing though. The passage about pre-modern humans, in the age of poetic theology (รก la Mycenean Greece), being mute was astounding. It's an insight into the creative consciousness of a culture which sees humanity as inextricably bound to nature. The wind howls and waves murmur because they are just like us, a willing being full of elan vital.
It's that form of vitalism, tempered by his Platonic Christian framing, that makes Vico a masterfully paradoxical thinker. He's at once the Enlightenment's greatest and first historicist - while being it's biggest anti-modern critic. He's at once the most open-minded perennialist while also the most strict pagan-condemning Catholic.
More than anything Vico is a refreshing thinker. He demonstrates that there is a middle way between Rousseau and Hobbes. He's an eye-opener for those who are stuck in the AC Graying or Bertrand Russell mythological analytic story of philosophy.
His historical and mythological analysis here is particularly tantalizing though. The passage about pre-modern humans, in the age of poetic theology (รก la Mycenean Greece), being mute was astounding. It's an insight into the creative consciousness of a culture which sees humanity as inextricably bound to nature. The wind howls and waves murmur because they are just like us, a willing being full of elan vital.
It's that form of vitalism, tempered by his Platonic Christian framing, that makes Vico a masterfully paradoxical thinker. He's at once the Enlightenment's greatest and first historicist - while being it's biggest anti-modern critic. He's at once the most open-minded perennialist while also the most strict pagan-condemning Catholic.
More than anything Vico is a refreshing thinker. He demonstrates that there is a middle way between Rousseau and Hobbes. He's an eye-opener for those who are stuck in the AC Graying or Bertrand Russell mythological analytic story of philosophy.
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