El Meridional Philosophical Thought between the New Science and «Scienza Nuova»

Abstract

This work by Piovani reconstructs the history of Italian philosophy between the mid-17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, as a response to the demand for a national self-understanding caused by the crisis of neoidealism. Given the importance of Vico in the history of Italian philosophy, Piovani argues that it is inevitable to resort to the category of "previquismo". However, he does not stop noticing the risks that this entails and insists on the need to seek the value that pre-Viquian thinkers have for themselves and not reduce them to simple "sources" of Vico.