From the “barbarism of reflection” to the “barbarism of meaning”: Vico, decadence and the return to the origins

Giovanni Scarpato; Roberto Evangelista

doi:10.6093/978-88-6887-338-7

From the “barbarism of reflection” to the “barbarism of meaning”: Vico, decadence and the return to the origins

Authors

Giovanni Scarpato

University of Naples Federico II

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6238-9574

Roberto Evangelista

CNR Institute for the History of Modern Philosophical and Scientific Thought (ISPF)

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0334-9462

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6093/978-88-6887-338-7

Keywords:

Vico, Gb., Decadence, Brabarism, Middle Ages, Philosophy of History

Synopsis

Editore: FedOA - Federico II University Press

Series: Miscellaneous

Pages: 80

Language: Italian

Abstract: One of the ways to reconsider Vico's reflection lies in the deepening of the relationship he probed between rationality and barbarism. The influence of historical criticism, not only directed at the investigation of the sacred scriptures but also at the mythical production of ancient civilisations, and the overcoming of a ‘bourgeois’ paradigm that saw in fables and primitive cultural productions the testimony of an ancient rational wisdom, or the projection into a past originating in the cultures of modern nations, was completely rethought by Vico. It is only through this rethinking that the nexus between barbarism and rationality is no longer presented in the terms of a contraposition, but rather as a dyad whose constituent elements are in perpetual communication, with forms and outcomes that only within the framework of human history acquire meaning. Reason enables humanity to emerge from a stage of barbarism, but it can also bring about its return.return. For this reason, the ideas of decadence and recourse take on an unquestionable centrality in Vico's civil thought. It is no coincidence that the essays collected in this volume often return to a very crucial passage of the Conclusion of Science where Vico fears, with an evocative capacity that seems to unite the philosophical and poetic dimensions, the ever latent possibility of the return to barbarism of European civilisation, just when it persuades itself that it has reached the pinnacle of civilisationand scientific progress.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Giovanni Scarpato, University of Naples Federico II

Giovanni Scarpato is a researcher in History of Political Thought at the Department of Political Science of the University “Federico II” of Naples. His scientific interests are mainly focused on the political thought of Giambattista Vico and its reception between the Enlightenment and the Restoration. In his essays he has dealt with various authors, including Paolo Sarpi, Giacomo Leopardi, Gioacchino Ventura, Luigi Blanch, Gustave Le Bon. In recent years his research interests have turned to the study of the heterodox and libertine currents of seventeenth-century Italy. He has published the following volumes: Giambattista Vico from the age of reforms to the Restoration. The New Science between Enlightenment and Catholic culture (1744-1827), Rome, Aracne, 2018; "Towards human governments". Politics and history in Luigi Blanch, Rome, Aracne, 2018; Occasions for freedom. Paths of political libertinism between Italy and France, Milan-Udine, Mimesis, 2024. He edited with Gennaro Maria Barbuto the volume Polis and polemos. Giambattista Vico and political thought, Milan-Udine, Mimesis, 2022.

Roberto Evangelista, CNR Institute for the History of Modern Philosophical and Scientific Thought (ISPF)

Roberto Evangelista is first researcher at the CNR Institute for the History of Modern Philosophical and Scientific Thought (ISPF). He deals with digital humanities, with a focus on issues related to open science. His research interests focus on the study of modern philosophy, with particular reference to Locke, Spinoza, Vico and the radical Enlightenment. He wrote a monograph on Spinoza's political thought entitled The Political Baggage of Individuals. La dinamica consuetudinaria nella riflessione politica di Spinoza, Milan-Udine, Mimesis, 2010, and a popular exposition of Vico's thought,Vico. Why Man is not an Animal, Milan, Hachette, 2019.