Una a rereading of the history of Europe in two Viquian cycles

Abstract

This article invites to reconsider the history of Europe from the point of view of Vico’s philosophy of history. As a result, the four ages of current historiography (Ancient, Middle, Modern and Contemporary) are denied, and a new division into two great cycles is proposed instead, each one composed of three subdivisions or ages. In the first part of the paper, some ideas of Vico that will be applied to interpretation of European history will be exposed, in particular the doctrine of the corso and ricorso, and the one of the three ages. It is in the second part where these ideas are applied: European history is periodized in two great cycles (a corso and a ricorso), where each one is composed by the three Viquian ages, each one with its own forma mentis.