Gustavo Costa reviewing the Italian edition of Vico's _Institutiones Oratoriae_ in _New Vico Studies_ 9 (1991), has written that Rhetoric is the mainspring of an important trend of Vichian studies which initiated at the beginning of the twentieth century and had its manifestation in John D. Schaeffer's _Sensus Communis: Vico, Rhetoric, and the Limits of Relativism_ (Durham: Duke University Press, 1990), where Schaeffer aptly noted, summing up a long exegetic tradition, Vico was imbued with rhetoric and convinced of its centrality (...) to Western civilization. Unfortunately, the editions of Vico's works published in English have not yet included the _Institutiones Oratoriae_, which more or less reflects the lectures on rhetoric given by Vico at the University of Naples, starting with the academic year 1699-1700 and going through 1739-1741. The manual on rhetoric was used in Italy up to the end of the nineteenth century and established the common curriculum in rhetoric to be followed in all Universities. This English edition offers a text of the _Institutiones_ complete on the base of the four known extant manuscripts. It offers the marginal glosses made by Vico's students, a collection of Vico's phrases and explanations of terms collected by some of the students, a glossary of Latin words and rhetorical terms from the Latin text, and a wealth of information in the commentary. _The Art of Rhetoric_ is the manual for everyone who wants to know what rhetoric is, how it was employed in the forum or the courts, how it could be learned from the classic orators, and how it can be used whenever we speak for convincing, praising or motivating. (shrink)

This collection of essays covers the classical heritage and Islamic culture, classical Arabic science and philosophy, and Muslim religious sciences, showing continuation of Greek and Persian thought as well as original Muslim contributions to the sciences, philosophy, religion, and culture of Islam.

Cet article rend compte des modes d'utilisation et d'accès aux TIC au Japon, sous l'angle des controverses et des défis qui se présentent aux différentes générations. Pour les parents, il s'agit d'assurer un environnement informatique sans risque tout en aidant leurs enfants à découvrir des informations en ligne et à en tirer le meilleur parti. Quant aux adultes en général, les inégalités existantes déterminent la nature et les modes d'utilisation des TIC. En conclusion, l'article suggère qu'Internet présente non pas un (...) moyen d'expression transparent à une société civile pré-existante, mais soulève au contraire des problématiques classiques dans la société civile japonaise, ayant trait par exemple à l'égalité, à l'intégration et à la participation aux délibérations civiques.This article reports on usage patterns and access to ICTs in Japan, in terms of controversies and challenges that arise between generations. For parents, it is to ensure a safe computing environment while helping their children discover information online and get the best. For adults in general, existing inequalities determine the nature and patterns of use of ICT. In conclusion, the article suggests that the Internet has not a transparent medium of a pre-existing civil society, but instead raises issues in traditional Japanese civil society, for example in relation to equality, integration and civic participation in the deliberations. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Being after Rousseau: Philosophy and Culture in QuestionG. Felicitas MunzelRichard L. Velkley. Being after Rousseau: Philosophy and Culture in Question. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002. Pp. x + 192. Cloth, $40.00. Paper, $18.00.In this collection of essays Velkley realizes a dual achievement: a penetrating scholarly analysis of a familiar topic, modern philosophy's on-going criticism of rational Enlightenment as a "project aiming at progressive rational mastery of nature (...) and the human situation" (60, 3), and an exemplary presentation of philosophizing as a self-reflexive activity in which the "know thyself" is posed to philosophy itself. The focus is on the German Idealist tradition, taking its origins from Rousseau and Kant to "reform, not simply to reject," but still to "overcome earlier modern accounts of scientific reason as abstract, mechanistic, and narrow, and as failing to do justice to the concrete wholeness or richness of nature and human experience, thus impoverishing our conceptions of morality, political life, and human aspirations toward the noble, the sacred, and the beautiful" (93). Velkley's scholarly interpretation identifies Rousseau as the pivotal figure who is the source both of the modern philosophical effort to achieve "human wholeness" by recovering an "original prediscursive or prerational unity" (an account that is the further source of the distinction between culture and civilization [12]) and of the "bifurcation in the ways to reach such wholeness," the ways of "citizenship" and "natural freedom" (13-14). The essays argue for an "important connection between Rousseau and Heidegger, through Kant and Schelling" (6). [End Page 345]While other thinkers are treated (for example, Pufendorf and Nietzsche), the essays primarily examine the writings of these four thinkers to elucidate "the persistence of a set of problems and a way of questioning" particular to modern philosophy (8).Velkley points out that Rousseau's critique of modern rationality is far more subtle than it is usually read. Granted, "through its introduction of self-reflectiveness into the previously 'innocent' and prereflective human situation," reason is perceived as the "true origin" and not the means for overcoming human ills (53). However, the "prereflective origin is nowhere to be found," it is an "imaginative construction," and it is a "mistake to take at face value any apparent assertion that natural man was merely an animal with only instinct and sensation" (37, 41). Because of his distinctively human awareness of time, natural man, "far from being mere animal," is "the only being whose openness to being exposes him to the nonbeing of death" (48). In short, "some 'bondage' to reason" is inescapable and "Rousseau's various plans for the reform of politics, education, the family, and the philosophical life" should be read as "ways of making the most of that bondage" (33).In the case of Kant, Velkley's emphasis is on the critical effort to resolve the dialectic, to correct the rational self-ignorance "so that the striving of reason for totality will not turn into a nihilistic rejection of reason" (112); or put another way, Rousseau inspires Kant's quid juris question, the issue of the "justification of reason as a whole," specifically the legitimacy of the categories (50-61, 101). Schelling, together with Kant's other Idealist successors, seeks a "greater unity, integration, wholeness, and concreteness than Kant provides" (113). The two main aspects of Schelling's project that Velkley discusses are (1) the discovery of the true human self in nature, the "hidden infinite unconscious self beneath the apparent finite conscious self," a "self whose objectification by the finite categories of discursive reason is quite impossible" and which thus discloses an "infinite contradiction" (115); and (2) the affirmation of the error of earlier philosophizing as belonging "essentially to philosophical inquiry" and being the very "precondition for finding truth" (125). From the philosophical attempt to correct reason's fundamental error, to its reading of "being in error" as an ineliminable step in the historical progress of reason and philosophy, Velkley turns to Heidegger's effort to step behind traditional metaphysics altogether and to move "forward into a new thinking beyond metaphysics" (142), from speech about Being to language as a power of disclosure of Being that overpowers the... (shrink)

Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and sociologist Norbert Elias are both famous for their influential interpretations of modern European culture as a whole. Nietzsche s On the Genealogy of Morals and Elias The Civilizing Process crossed disciplinary boundaries with respect to both content and method, and both books are still of great contemporary interest. This volume brings international specialists together for the first time to explore the connections between these two works. ".

_A fresh translation of _The New Science_, with detailed footnotes that will help both the scholar and the new reader navigate Vico’s masterpiece_ _The New Science_ is the major work of Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico. First published in 1725 and revised in 1730 and 1744, it calls for a reinterpretation of human civilization by tracing the stages of historical development shared by all societies. Almost unknown during his lifetime, the work had a profound influence on later thinkers, from Montesquieu and (...) Marx to Joyce and Gadamer. This edition offers a fresh translation and detailed annotations which enable the reader to track Vico’s multiple allusions to other texts. The introduction situates the work firmly within a contemporary context and newly establishes Vico as a thinker of modernity. (shrink)

En su temprano trabajo "Vico y la mitología" , Max Horkheimer elogia a Giambattista Vico por su concepción sociológica y política del mito. En su posterior trabajo Dialéctica Dialéctica de la Ilustración , escrito junto con Theodor W. Adorno, Horkheimer estudia la relación entre pensamiento ilustrado y barbarie mítica. El propósito del presente artículo consiste en señalar las diferencias entre la concepción viquiana del mito y las tesis defendidas en Dialéctica de la Ilustración.In his early work "Vico and Mythology" , (...) Max Horkheimer praised Giambattista Vico for his sociological and political view of myth. Horkheimer's later work, the Dialectic of Enlightenment jointly written with Theodor W. Adorno approaches the relationship between enlightened thought and mythological barbarism. This paper aims to pointing out the difference between Vico's view of myth and that purported in the Dialectic of Enlightenment. (shrink)

El objetivo de este artículo es explicar la interpretación política que Vico ofrece del precepto apolíneo “nosce te ipsum”. El artículo comienza con el problema del conocimiento de sí mismo en la primera Oración Inaugural y en el De Antiquissima. Luego, ese problema es puesto en relación con el origen de la autoconciencia en la Scienza nuova, con Solón y Esopo como universales fantásticos de la plebe y con el origen civil de la filosofía. La conclusión es que hay una (...) conexión entre el conocimiento de sí mismo, aconsejado por dicho precepto, y la reflexión filosófica que sostiene la base epistemológica de la ciencia viquiana.Palabras clave: Vico, autoconocimiento, autoconciencia, reflexión filosófica, política.The aim of this paper is to explain Vico’s political interpretation of the Apollonian prescription “nosce te ipsum”. The paper begins with the problem of the self-knowledge in the first Oration and in De Antiquissima. After that, this problem is related with the historical origin of self-consciousness in the Scienza nuova, with Solon and Aesop as imaginative universals of the plebs and with the civil origin of philosophy. The conclusion is that there is a connection between the self-knowledge advised for this prescription and the philosophical reflection that support the epistemological basis of Vico’s science.Keywords: self-knowledge, self-consciousness, philosophical reflection, politics. (shrink)

La trattatistica della ragion di Stato ha contribuito a superare il modello ideale dello stato platonico, il modello naturalistico aristotelico, il modello del diritto naturale teologico della« respublica christiana ». Insieme al machiavellismo ha conquistato la moderna distinzione tra politica e morale, ha prodotto una realistica pedagogia dell’arte di governare. Costituisce un contributo essenziale all’elaborazione del mito dello Stato moderno, con i suoi caratteri di universalità realmente operante nel disciplinamento sociale e individuale, ma anche con i limiti e le contraddizioni (...) che neppure la forma del mito riesce a nascondere: crisi e guerra (civile e tra le nazioni). (shrink)

El presente capítulo se propone, en primer lugar, elucidar algunos aspectos de la dimensión política de distintos textos nodales de la obra de Hans-Georg Gadamer, como Plato und die Dichter [1934], Platos Staat der Erziehung [1942], y el más tardío Idee des Guten zwischen Plato und Aristoteles [1978]. Para ello, se realizará una revisión crítica de una de las lecturas contemporáneas de estos aspectos, aquella realizada por Dennis Schmidt. En las conclusiones, tras analizar la relación entre phrónesis, areté y andreía (...) en los diálogos platónicos, intentaré demostrar cómo estas nociones alumbran la cuestión de la seducción del poder (descuidada por Schmidt en su lectura del Platón gadameriano), así como la inseparabilidad de este problema con respecto a la concepción dialéctica de la utopía. A partir de esto último se sugerirá que es posible, desde y más allá de la lectura gadameriana de Platón, repensar la idea de desobediencia civil y el valor político del mito desde el punto de vista de la utopía. (shrink)

El artículo intenta mostrar la unión entre el mundo civil y el mundo metafísico como un principio rector de la antropología, la gnoseología y la teoría política de Vico. La relación entre sentido común y libre albedrío es examinada en conexión con las modificaciones de la mente y con la Práctica de la Ciencia Nueva. This paper aims to show that the connection between the civil and the metaphysical world is a ruling principle in Vico’s anthropology, in his epistemology and (...) his political philosophy as well. The relationship holding between common sense and free will related with the modifications of mind and with the Practic of the New Science is finally assessed. (shrink)

Este artículo tiene como objetivo dilucidar la función que cumple el temor reverencial en el Leviatán de Thomas Hobbes y en la Ciencia Nueva de Giambattista Vico como principio del mundo civil. Se centra la atención en la imaginación y en la religión como elementos fundantes de las instituciones humanas, analizando sus implicaciones.Palabras clave: Vico, Hobbes, política, temor, “terror”.This article aims to elucidate the role of ‘awe’ in Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan and in Giambattista Vico’s Scienza Nuova as a principle of (...) civilian world. The focus is on imagination and religion as foundational elements of human institutions, analyzing its implications.Keywords: Vico, Hobbes, politics, fear, “awe”. (shrink)

Este artículo examina las analogías entre las “visiones” del mundo de Vico y de Jung, las cuales tratan de reflexionar sobre el sentido de los orígenes en los mitos y en los lenguajes de la historia humana. Los arquetipos del inconsciente colectivo junguianos, así como los universales fantásticos de Vico utilizan símbolos que entrañan en sí mismos una concepción cósmica y antropológica; cada símbolo ha formado el mundo, cristalizándolo en una imagen, eternizándolo en una expresión “estética”, proyectando en este todo (...) el sentir del hombre. (shrink)

With the celebrated frontispiece to the New Science (1744) and through an immediate comparison of this image to the ancient moral fable inscribed in the Tablet of Cebes the Theban, Vico ingeniously employs a then well-known common topic and a conventional emblematic device to inaugurate his topics-based philosophy. A topical knowledge of the human cannot, for Vico, be seized by precept only; it must be undergone as an active and imaginative recovery of the topics through memory. In times of need, (...) topical memory is consequential for civil wisdom and historical consciousness. An aptitude for the practic of topics is manifest in the manmade figurations of fable and poetry and in the requisite and recollective resynthesis of them. By modeling, exemplifying, explaining, and soliciting this aptitude for topical knowledge, Vico provides a multifold teaching on the acquisition of civil wisdom. (shrink)

La imaginación o "fantasia" de la que habla Vico no tiene un valor puramente estético-literario, sino que inviste también otros componentes fundamentales del mundo humano, como la religión o la magia, la cual -ésta última- Vico relacionó con la poesía primitiva, considerando que la magia diabólica era efecto de la fantasía. El presente estudio aborda un importante aspecto en la historia de esta idea.The imagination or "fantasia" that Vico talks about does not only have an aesthetic-literary value, but rather also (...) takes the form of other fundamental components of the human world, like religion or magic. Vico related the latter with primitive poetry, considering that diabolic magic was an effect of fantasy. This study deals with an important aspect in the history of this idea. (shrink)

A relação entre política e aparência desenvolvida por Maquiavel no Príncipe tem sido vista como uma chave de leitura fundamental da obra do pensador florentino. Maquiavel teria mostrado que é condição da política desdobrar-se na aparência, ou seja, na dimensão simbólica do imaginário coletivo. Esta mesma relação também é colocada de modo emblemático pelo filósofo napolitano Giambattista Vico, autor raramente citado quanto à recepção de Maquiavel, mas que explora ou retoma temas afins. A questão é saber até que ponto Vico (...) segue pela via aberta por Maquiavel ou dela se afasta. Portanto, é o percurso e a direção desta retomada que gostaria de indicar neste trabalho, tendo em vista que, tanto Vico quanto Maquiavel, dialogam com a antiga tradição filosófica que, de Platão a Plutarco, já discutia o assunto. (shrink)

Under the guise of exporting democratic values, the introduction of neo-liberal principles on a world scale has been justified. This “imaginary democracy” has been utilized to elegantly mask the intention to cover the progressive weakening generated in social bodies due to globalization proces..

Recensión crítica de tres obras recientes que tocan ciertos problemas políticos, morales y científicos de gran importancia en relación con Vico.Critical review of three recent books , which touch some political, moral and scientific points of great consequence with regard to Vico.

El presente artículo aborda lo que se considera que son algunas de las deficiencias de la teoría contemporánea de la sociedad civil. Para ello pasa brevemente revista a la evolución histórica del concepto, y se presenta una selección de sus definiciones contemporáneas. Todas ellas manifiestan una cierta imposibilidad para contemplar la política si no es desde una polarización dualista Estado-Sociedad, que trata de superarse abriéndose el concepto de sociedad civil a una mayor interrelación entre estos dos polos. Asimismo, se afirma (...) que el recurso a la «sociedad civil» sirve para recomponer en el ámbito de la teoría y resolver de un solo golpe dos de las grandes deficiencias que asolan a las relaciones entre sistema político y sociedad: la ausencia de un sujeto unitario claramente delimitado y el déficit de integración normativa. (shrink)