Da barbárie à vida social na teoria de Giambattista Vico: uma crítica ao contratualismo de Thomas Hobbes

Abstract

The central object of this dissertation was to carry out the contrast between the Italian philosopher‟s, Giambattista Vico, barbarism conception and the state of nature advocated by Thomas Hobbes in his political philosophy. This research aims to elucidate Hobbes‟s conception of the state of nature. The English thinker betook a covenant idea that would only be possible to more developed societies which had minimally established the social life. To this author, the first common life form had only been possible with the Political State, which was artificially created from human‟s need in their happiness pursuit that would only be possible in a state of peace. Later on, Vico insisted on the barbarism of the intellect concept, that is, a stage in which the man was rough due to its obscure and imaginative reason, which has gradually been developed in the course of history and led to social life. In this context, social life would be prerequisite for the formation of a state. During our study we realized that the authors acknowledge two parallel stories: one Christian and the other Gentile. Vico devoted himself to the analysis of peoples, since its formation up to the consolidation of social life. Hobbes started from Christian history to focus on Europe‟s peoples, where perhaps he would draw a conception of natural men blended with a degree of illustration. Vico did not stop at the breakdown of Christian history, which would have certain linearity and a much more developed reason. Hobbes arrived and stopped at the formation of gentile societies commentaries, even if his aim was at Christianity world history, with an eye always towards the formation of the state in more developed societies. Ultimately, our goal is to oppose the two philosophers‟ theories to identify the similarities and contrasts that are worthy for understanding the formation of human life in political society.