Giambattista Vico: os métodos e a diversidade dos temas

Abstract

This thesis investigates the different approaches that Vico adopted to the method in front of the different themes in his inaugural orations, in De ratione, in De antiquissima and in his last edition of the New Science. Vico, inspired by the Baconian model and critical of the Cartesian one, develops his methods dependent on relations with language, evolving from an understanding of the moral function of eloquence to a treatment of language as the basis of the wisdom of nations. In the inaugural orations, we present the relationships that Vico establishes between wisdom and methods that culminate in an order to study and a method of studies that is presented in the Sixth Oration. In De ratione, we investigate the methodological proposal that Vico presents for his study method, as opposed to the Cartesian model, whose organization rescues the rhetorical tradition of topics followed by criticism, so that the social character of training is promoted. In De antiquissima, Vico's etymological research to investigate the ancient wisdom of the Italics leads him to prefer the synthetic method in a specific sense, different from the analytical model that would be more appropriate for arithmetic and geometry subjects. Finally, we examined Vico’s methodological trajectory culminating in his New Science, emphasizing his critique of the Cartesian model and the Baconian influence that grounds his conception of the common nature of nations.