Note on the problem of being in Vico. Lines of Continuity between De Antiquissima and the Scienza Nuova of 1725

Abstract

This article seeks to define a line of ontological continuity within Vico’s thought. The argument is developed from the idea that in De antiquissima Italorum sapientia, Vico’s polemic against the Cartesian cogito leads him to propose an ontology based on the contiguity of essence between creator and creature—between God and the human being—in contrast to a difference in potestas, that is, in creative power, which is infinite in God and limited in the human being. This peculiar ontology of factual difference, as defined in De antiquissima, precedes any subsequent development of Vico’s thought, up to the publication of the first edition of the Scienza nuova. The article traces a path beginning with an analysis of selected passages from De antiquissima and the letters to the Giornale de’ letterati d’Italia, followed by a discussion of the Sinopsi del diritto universale, and concluding with an examination of selected passages from the first edition (1725) of the Scienza nuova.