Gianbattista Vico

     Known as Scienza nuova terza, this is the third and final edition of Vico's work (the first edition goes back to 1725). It marked a milestone not only for historiography, but also for archeological theory. It deals on the one hand with the philosophical issue of epistemology, establishing the fundamental unity of factuality and meaning; on the other, with the methodology through which we can critically evaluate the most distant past. In this he argues against the double arrogance of scholars and nations, whom he accuses of falsely aggrandizing the archaic periods. To these periods he attributes instead a different kind of greatness, that of profound poetic imagination. Seeking to establish his theory ("scienza") on documentary factual grounds, he develops elaborate schemes through which to categorize historical development. While no longer valid in their referential details, these schemes are important because they established the mental framework within which periodization could be argued.

[G. Buccellati – December 2005]