8

EDSON ARTEMIO DOS SANTOS

The contribution of Giambattista Vico FOR CULTURAL HISTORY
Canoes 2005 EDSON ARTEMIO DOS SANTOS
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The contribution of Giambattista Vico FOR CULTURAL HISTORY
Work Completion Degree in History University Center La Salle
Advisor: Rejane Silva Penna
2005 Canoas
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DEDICATION To my dear wife Lilia by patience, selflessness and love. Virtues we
already have and were further strengthened during this period of study. To my be
loved sons William, Juliane, Fernando, Rafaela and Edson for his hugs and kisses
to each return.
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THANKS Thanks to my dear parents and Dorvalino Eloiza by his example and directi
on in every moment of my life. Thank Giovana and Evandro for my brothers too
believe in education. I thank my patience and aroused responsible for guiding Re
jane Silva Penna kindness that always welcomed me to the possibility, as well as
for having me thinking unlimited history.
12
"Competent
Historians are not
those that give descriptions
13
General
of
facts
and
to the
explain that
referring to us
general conditions, but the largest come every detail and reveal the cause parti
cular event. "Giambattista Vico
ABSTRACT This paper presents the contribution of the Italian philosopher Giambat
tista Vico to the theoretical line known as Cultural History. Featuring mainly h
is vision of the validity of knowledge as per the causes of paramount importance
to the humanities and appreciation of mythic sources for historical studies. Ke
ywords: Vico, Cultural History, Myth.
ABSTRACT
14
This work presents The Contribution of the Italian thinker Giambattista Vico The
oretical known is the line the Cultural History. We Mainly detach ITS vision of
the Validity of the knowledge of the causes to per Utmost importance is sciences
Human Beings and the valuation of the mythical sources for the historical studi
es. Word-key: Vico, Cultural History, Myth.
SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION ................................................. .................
................... 8 ........ Thought of Giambattista Vico ....................
..... 11 CAN WE KNOW WHAT WE CREATE ................... 20 .... AND MYTHICAL poe
tic sources ......................................... ................ 24 VICO A
ND CULTURAL HISTORY ............................. CONCLUSION ...................
..... 30 ........................ ..............................................
.... .................. 39 REFERENCES ..........................................
..... ...... 42
15
WORKS CONSULTED ................................................ ...............
....... 44
INTRODUCTION
This study will consider the work of Giambattista Vico as one of the sources hav
e not overexploited and that can contribute to better support the major precondi
tions for the Cultural History. Contact with the thought of Giambattista Vico oc
curred during the studies in the chair of Theory of History I, an undergraduate
in History at La Salle University. At first called our attention to his thesis a
bout the cyclical movement in the history of nations, providing an explanation f
or the process and meaning of history,
16
his well-known division of the history of nations in the age of gods and heroes
of old age for men. Vico demonstrates, in short, the advance man's knowledge of
a model of the world based on the deities represented by natural phenomena under
stood as a manifestation of divine will, through a time of great heroes or loved
binders people, who are nominated and have their adventures told in myths and f
inally arriving in the world controlled by reason or old men. He will apply this
theoretical skeleton support to explain the development of language, learning a
nd a theory of the state. We also realize that in many places Vico, somehow anti
cipates theoretical assumptions, which later would be affirmed by the Cultural H
istory. This encouraged us to seek lists them in order to introduce the thought
of Vico as a reference for the theoretical development of this line of understan
ding of history. In chapter one, we present a summary of biographical
Giambattista Vico, where we will cover the development of its main ideas, his co
mmitment to building a new science that would explain the development of nations
 and culminating with the defense of Vico's history as science can understand th
e human reality, based on his thesis the verum factum and use of cultural source
s and philological studies and analysis of myths. To utilize this author, which
in our eyes, better understood the meaning of his work: Isaiah Berlin, and Humbe
rto Guido Alfredo Bosi. In chapter two,€deepen the study on his theory of verum
factum, because it recognize his great contribution to the
17
discussions of the valuation of the humanities and especially in history. We wil
l present a critique of the Cartesian method Vico against the development of his
theory of history or rediscovered and revisited by the Cultural History. In cha
pter three, we will bring to fore the debate about which sources are valid for h
istorical knowledge, a subject that has not been exhausted in the academic, show
ing the importance given today's cultural sources, noting that Vico recognized i
n the ancient myths that would allow sources entering the minds of men who lived
in the time without writing, and show the relation of this assumption Vico with
similar work carried out today by authors related to cultural history. Seek the
contribution of Jacques Le Goff, Robert Darnton, Carlo Ginzburg for the develop
ment of these ideas. Finally, the fourth chapter, we review the development of C
ultural History, as a recent theoretical line, still being solidified methodolog
y, based on the compilation of studies done by American Lynn Hunt. We will pass
quickly through concepts such as representation and imagery related settings Jat
ahy Sandra Pesavento and Shut-Gilbert Dubois, a specialist in the study of image
ry from Renaissance. At this point we will defend the inclusion of Vico and his
masterpiece the New Science as a reference for the theoretical development of cu
ltural history and refutes the comments made by Peter Burke, putting in doubt th
e validity of Vico's contribution to the humanities. Use as main work of our stu
dy Vico's New Science that in recent months as we experience the dryness of your
spoken text, which we believe to be the main reason he is still not known. intr
oduce the importance he gives to sources who were later
18
We also feel the scarcity of sources in English and recent productions about the
thought of Vico, so we had to work like real miners in search of bibliographies
of quality. We overcame this step with the great help of Professor Umberto Guid
o da UFU, in our view, the biggest Brazilian specialist in the study of Vico's t
hought, which was always open to assist us in this work.
.
19
THINKING OF Giambatista VICO
In the first half of the seventeenth century, Italy has lost Galileo Galilei (15
64-1642) and came in almost two centuries of participation or insignificant cont
ribution to the history of thought. Although the philosophy of Renné Descartes (
1596-1650), John Locke (1632-1704) among others, to penetrate on Italian soil an
d were discussed, nothing to suggest the golden period of the Renaissance emerge
d. It's just so meaningless right now discovered, that "the almost unanimous con
sensus of historians, [was] the greatest figure of the Italian philosopher Giova
nni Battista Vico." (BOSI, 1988, p.96) In the year 1724, Giambatista Vico writes
, invited by Count Gian Arctic di Porcia, his "autobiography, or Vita di Giambat
tista Vico scritta if the medessimo (GUIDO, 2004, p.20). In this autobiography d
i Porcia, was intended to record for posterity, "the most important stages of hi
s intellectual development" (Berlin, 1982, p. 24).
20
In his autobiography Vico tells us: "You Giambattista Vico was born in Naples in
the year 1670, the son of honest parents who left a very good reputation for it
self." (Apud BOSI VICO, 1979, p. VI) actually was born in Vico July 23, 1668, so
n of a bookseller in Naples, where he lived most of his life, except the time sp
ent in nearby Vatolla in Cilento, to tutor the children of Domenico Rocca, Marqu
is of Vatolla (Berlin, 1982), between the years 1686 and 1695 (GUIDO, 2004). Fro
m his early days at school in Naples, Vico records a violent fall, accompanied b
y a skull fracture that led the doctor who attended him, to contemplate the poss
ibility of surviving stupid. (GUIDO, 2004) In addition to this physical mark tha
t accompany the rest of life, Vico inherited from his time at school, where the
prevailing scholasticism, how to "write pedantic and tiresome" (Berlin, 1976, p.
26) which becomes dry and confusing his mind. In 1694 Vico completed the course
of law, and in 1699 leaves the position of teacher and begins a career as a col
lege professor taught rhetoric. Vico will remain in this position until end his
career in 1741 (Berlin, 1982). During the time he lives and works in Vatolla, Vi
co took the opportunity to further their studies. Read above all the classics, a
pproaching the works of Plato and Tacitus, the authors old favorites (GUIDO, 200
4).€After returning to Naples in addition to joining the university career Vico
will attend the Academy Palatine expanding the studies and discussions of Plato,
whom he calls "divine Plato" (apud VICO BURKE, 1997) and Tacitus. At this stage
of Vico's life he will relate to eminent scholars of his town. Vico these meeti
ngs will contact the
21
his third author of Francis Bacon (GUIDO, 2004), Vico it accepts the challenge o
f writing a story that "[...] makes wise men [...] "(apud VICO BURKE, 1997, p.37
). Already mature Vico will contact his fourth author, Hugo Grotius, Dutch schol
ar who writes the treaty law of war and peace. Vico recognizes this work the aut
hor's ability to unify the universal right to philosophy and philology. Somethin
g that he will pursue his studies further. Symmetry between the four authors Vic
o would launch the construction of the work of his life: the New Science. The fi
rst edition of the New Science appeared in 1725, but would be continually rewrit
ten by Vico. In 1730 would leave the second edition and in 1744, the third posth
umous edition. The New Science is a great flood, which brings its Baroque and pe
dantic, which according to Guido (2004) form chosen by Vico deliberately create
opportunities for the reader the experience reveal the shape of the first ideas
born in the world. Guard inside, waiting to resolve who pay the price, a meeting
with ideas that span the history, psychology, language, anthropology and social
sciences. This whole process of intellectual development occurs in the life of
Vico in the midst of great difficulty, as outlined by Isaiah Berlin:
All his life lacked what is most dear to the wise, calm and tranquility. It was
a wise timid, obsequious and haunted by poverty and anxiety, and he wrote too fa
st in the middle of the conversation of his friends and the chatter and clatter
of their kids, but knew he had made a great discovery, and have opened a door to
a world of which was the sole owner, and that thought, so tell us in his autobi
ography, made him happy and serene. (1982, p. 25)
22
As we can see, Vico is a thinker that spans two centuries: their academic traini
ng took place in the seventeenth century and its production was presented in the
first half of the eighteenth century. But what was the great discovery of Giamb
attista Vico, a professor of rhetoric at Naples? (Berlin, 1982). In answering th
is question is necessary to consider the philosophy of Rene Descartes (1596-1650
) in studies Vico. It is common liability that Vico, like most of his contempora
ries, he had contact with the philosophy of Descartes, but his attitude toward C
artesianism will take you to criticize him. And Vico will do as perceived by Isa
iah Berlin, "at the very field in which she felt stronger and impregnable" (1982
, p.28), precisely in the areas of mathematics and geometry. Vico quickly realiz
es that, based on Cartesian assumptions, so-called human sciences, would be rele
gated to the field of distraction or information were just curious and all in th
e math riddle, and therefore would not be science. The humanistic heritage of Vi
co did not allow him to accept passively the idea. Over the arguments used by Vi
co? None of his contemporaries, although they admired the scholarship, he realiz
ed it the mark of a genius
However, the arguments he used against Descartes were not theological, rhetorica
l or subjective (...) he maintained that the validity of all true knowledge, inc
luding mathematics or logic, can only be demonstrated by understanding the way i
n that is acquired, ie, their genetic or historical development. (Berlin, 1982,
p. 27-28)
23
Vico was convinced that although all the brilliance of the Cartesian observation
, this was outweighed by the knowledge gained from our own experience as partici
pants or authors, thus the practice of observing nature defended the Cartesian m
ethod, limited to what we can see from the outside was less than this could pene
trate inside the object, ie the knowledge of causes. This idea, according to Isa
iah Berlin (1982), was not a novelty, because it often appeared in scholastic ph
ilosophy, which is seen as one of the intellectual bases of Vico. For Vico mathe
matics and geometry, foundations of Cartesianism, are true only because we creat
ed them, but applying them as parameters to obtain the knowledge of the natural
world is extremely limited, because we are not the creators of the natural world
. Hence the famous formula of Vico: verum ipsum factum vero et factum convertur,
ie, true and are made convertible.€Until then nobody had declared that human kn
owledge is not only demonstrating how mathematics or obtained only by the senses
or the difference in knowing what is opinion and know what it is. In this way c
eases to be the only method of obtaining true knowledge. According Bosi (1979),
this idea was the starting point for Vico elect in history as the field of human
knowledge where you can fully apply to his method, being the product of man's w
ill or as stated on Berlin attention by Vico history: "History is the queen of a
ll the studies devoted to the reality and the knowledge of what exists in the wo
rld." (1982, p.40) And yet complements Lucchesi, translator for the Portuguese l
anguage of the New Science, prefacing the work :
24
The man knows the story. You can figure it internally. Set the part and the whol
e. Imagine you the forms. Sense the beginnings of human society. The history as
a place where science and for awareness radically intertwine, overcomes the Cart
esian program, and it unifies the verum certum, according to the method viquiano
, whose building sits in the columns of philology and philosophy. (Preface to th
e New Science, p.16, 1999).
With that in mind Vico will devote the remainder of his days in the making of hi
s magnum opus, or as the New Science Vico called the Principles of a new science
about the common nature of nations. In this work, Vico seek to reconstruct the
world of primitive men or as he said:
But in such a dense dark night which is concealed from us the first remote antiq
uity, befalls this eternal flame that never goes down, this truth, which absolut
ely can not be put in doubt: that the civilian world has certainly been done by
men, whose principles can, why should they be found within the modifications of
our own human mind. (1999, p. 131)
Vico recognized that such an undertaking would not be easy. Would have to "use a
 lot of stress and fatigue" (1999, p.132) to search within our human principles
that lead to understanding of the ancients. In the development of his work, Vico
establishes the first three principles common to all people, presented as follo
ws:
We observed all the barbarous nations and human, though, for lots of space and t
ime intervals between themselves apart, keep these three human manners: they all
have some religion, all solemn marriage contract, all bury their dead, even amo
ng the rudest nations and wild, the most exquisite ceremonies and feasts consecr
ated to reside in religions, marriages and burials. (1999, p.132).
25
It is felt that these three customs common to the human being to note the strong
cultural character of the whole analysis of Vico on the origin of nations. Vico
addition to identifying these three principles of univocal
humanity, will also establish their ages or three times: "The age of gods, heroe
s of the age and the age of men" (1999, p. 102). And in each of these ages Vico
bind a specific language: "hieroglyphic, or sacred, symbolic or epistolary and v
ulgar." (1999, p.102) These three principles will lead Vico to seek to demonstra
te "the
modifications of the human mind "(1999, p.131) and that he used mainly the langu
age in all its forms, ie spoken, written, by means of symbols, poetry, myths and
fables. Considering these assumptions we can understand the importance of histo
rical studies to the detriment of studies on the nature (Berlin, 1972). In histo
ry or account of the deeds of men in space and time, production of the human min
d is therefore likely to be perceived and understood. Vico is not clear then how
do we know the human mind at each stage, but we realize that the language is ve
ry important in this process. The forms of language to Vico accompany the develo
pment of human history and how Bosi says:
[...] They do not constitute an artificial, invented deliberately to express ide
as pre-existing; by
26
Rather, it evolves naturally, and the course of its development is inseparable f
rom the progress of the human spirit. (1979, p. xviii)
With this philological studies Vico elect as of great significance for understan
ding human development, as stated by himself in the "Ideas Work" from his New Sc
ience:
Moreover, wave itself, which in this work, with a new art criticism, hitherto no
n-existent, begins the search for truth about the authors of the nations (of whi
ch they are held over a thousand years to be able to get the writers with whom c
riticism so far has dealt), which is why philosophy is opposed to examining phil
ology (ie, the doctrine of all things that depend on human will,€as are all stor
ies of the languages, customs and the facts of peace, war and people), which, fo
r reasons of their deplorable obscurity and almost infinite variety of effects,
felt [the philosophy] as a horror meditate it, and only reduces by way of scienc
e, finding in it the outlines of an ideal eternal history, in which time courses
in the history of all nations: so that, for this other key aspect, this science
has to be a philosophy of authority. (1999, p. 32-33)
But how to do this in so-called savage or dark times of Vico (1999, p. 31)? Vico
tells us about it:
Therefore, and due to other principles of mythology here revealed, and follow th
e other principles of poetry presented here demonstrates that the tales were tru
e stories and customs of their own very ancient people of Greece as well as prim
arily those of the gods were stories of the times in which men of ruder gentile
humanity thought all things necessary or useful to mankind as deities; poetry wh
ose authors were the first people, note that all poets were theologians, who nar
rate undoubtedly heathen nations were founded with the fables of the gods. (1999
, p.32-33).
27
Vico presented as sources for this dark period the mythological stories, fables
and traditions. Isaiah Berlin interprets this possibility as follows:
The key lies in past experience of mankind, that from its earliest origins, can
be read in their mythologies, their languages and their social and religious ins
titutions: it can be perceived in the evidence of extant life forms older that c
an be observed in the old monuments and the accounts of the habits and instituti
ons of primitive peoples, but also in the occasional survival - active or fossil
ized - among the simple people or delayed, especially in poetry, ritual magic an
d legal structures of primitive societies . The assumption of this process be un
derstandable implies the establishment of order in apparent chaos - a thread of
Ariadne that not only help us to exit the maze, but that we also explain its com
plexities. (1972, p. 45-46).
So Vico to the poetic or mythological sources bring us important part of the dev
elopment process of the mentality of man and his deeds. The etymology of words u
sed in a given time, may be laden with meaning for the historical understanding
of man. Vico exercised this technique in his "Da Antiguíssima Wisdom of the Ital
ians where through an etymological analysis of certain words he seeks to trace t
heir use in a particular historical context. In short, for Vico culture with all
its wealth becomes extremely fertile field for historical knowledge. On the occ
asion of his inaugural speeches in the period from 1699 to 1707, Vico will repea
tedly assert that that man can achieve his self-will examine all areas of knowle
dge both at present and the past (HUGHES-WARRINGTON, 2002) .
After reviewing the development of a synthetic form of intellectual G. Vico, we
will study in later chapters, two aspects
28
we consider relevant to the harvest of Cultural History: the thesis of verum fac
tum and appreciation of mythic sources.
29
CAN WE KNOW WHAT WE CREATE
As convertible
or affirm that
at
chapter
the former can
this being their
study,
recognize that the proposition that Vico true and what is done talking, we have
a known, more epistemologically as
contributions to the science called human. Mainly for historical knowledge, know
ledge that would better for Vico demonstrates this concept for the object of the
ir study are purely human production. Vico argued that "[...] this civilian worl
d has certainly been done by men, whose principles can, why should they be found
within the modifications of our own human mind. "(1999, p. 131). This enhanceme
nt of knowledge of human things
accounted for a contrary position to the current parameters of obtaining knowled
ge through mathematical proof, a concept advocated by the Cartesian method. Vico
undertake a critique of such a method. For Descartes that could not be evaluate
d by mathematical riddle can not be considered science or how well perceived by
Berlin, "the real intellectual progress depends
30
clearly, as the natural sciences have shown to reduce the matter to be studied,
concepts and judgments clear and distinct, ie mathematically expressible. "(1976
, p.€28) Thus the claim of historians to gain a knowledge of the truth of events
in the past tense can be considered as chimeric or something like Descartes say
s, get as much "knowledge like the maid of Cicero." (DESCARTES apud BERLIN, P.28
) Since 1708, Vico begin its "battle" in favor of the validity of knowledge of h
uman affairs. It is worth mentioning at this point, we advocate that Vico did no
t wish to overthrow the "building" of the knowledge created by the modern method
, but also agree Bosi and Guido, but criticize the intent of this method as the
only form of knowledge capable of producing the truth. Vico defends the stocks o
f basic human certainties that can not be demonstrated by the Cartesian method b
ut are evident. Several products of man in the cultural and historical are not b
ased on mathematics and its true or false but believable in or out. Vico brings
actually achieve reform in this building, this building many times questioned su
ffers no structural reform but merely ornamental as told by Vico, this analogy o
f building:
Thus, modern physicists are like those who having inherited houses, that as the
magnificence and comfort leave nothing to be desired, so they have nothing else
to do than to relocate the sumptuous furniture, or enter with little effort , sm
all ornaments to suit the fashion of the time (VICO apud GUIDO, 2004, p.32)
31
Guido (2004) believes that this attitude of Vico in relation to Cartesianism sho
uld not be regarded as a conservative or as an opponent of science, but we must
consider its strong humanistic background where it will accept the existence of
two sciences: the divine science and human science. Vico heir to the Augustinian
Thomism and thought argues that "can only be known what the knowing subject its
elf makes, creates or produces." (BOSI, 1974, p. XIII) or as he says:
The well to reflect on this fact, as strange [check] as all philosophers have st
udied how to achieve the science of the natural world, which, because God made h
im, he alone has science, and left to meditate this world of nations, ie the civ
ilian world, which, as they did men, could get his science of man. (1999, p. 132
)
The divine science of nature can account for God is its creator. The man himself
here as God's creation can not come to a science itself but rather a consciousn
ess of self. Vico will recognize that the knowledge obtained by the Cartesian me
thod, through the math is completely valid, but this is precisely the reason why
mathematics-geometry is the work of man (Berlin, 1976, p. 29). Being man's work
and promoting a ratio of abstract base itself demonstrates the veracity of the
thesis of Vico. When Vico presents the classic statement: "[...] this civilian w
orld was certainly done by men, whose principles can, why should they be found w
ithin the modifications of our own human mind. "(1999, p. 131) he is referring t
o another statement of 1710, which says: "The true object owes its existence als
o the mind that knows" (apud VICO GUIDO, 2004, p. 35), considering
32
that man is not the creator of Nature intends to obtain a knowledge-based assump
tions creator by man, leads to a superficial knowledge, indeed a representation.
Luchessi the following points:
The certainty viquiana lies in the fact that the story is the work of men, who f
ollows human nature. And the world can be searched by the mind. Since its incept
ion. Providence plays a role no doubt. But it is a supporting role. The man know
s the story. You can figure it internally. Set the part and the whole. Imagine y
ou the formas.Intuir the beginnings of human society. The history as a place whe
re science and science-cons radically intertwine, overcomes the Cartesian progra
m, and it unifies the verum factum and certum, according to the method viquiano,
whose building sits in the columns of philology and philosophy. (Preface of Sci
ence New, p. 15 and 16)
In order to demonstrate the validity of his thesis Vico will take as its main ob
ject of research investigating the cultural world, an exclusive work of human wi
ll, whose origins Vico believes he can find changes in the human mind. The devel
opment of this idea will Vico to develop a theory of history, science to Vico ca
n best address this issue by dealing with the deeds of men. Vico will do this by
using three sources, which he said are incorruptible: language, mythology and a
rcheology. Sources for cultural excellence.
Robert
Darton
sees
in
choice
these
types
of
sources
the
development of an ethnographic trend "[...] Story "(1986, p. XIII), "[...] a sto
ry that examines how ordinary people understand the world" (1986, p. XIIV) final
ly the recovery of human cultural products, which are everywhere waiting for goo
d questions that we put to them.
33
SOURCES Poetics and MYTHICAL
What sources are valid for the historical knowledge? The answer to this question
has been constantly expanded, but say increased as historical sources has been
a constant evolution
34
that will follow the development of technical and cultural human being. Their so
urces have not been withdrawn or dismissed but revisited with new looks, new que
stions and under an understanding that we can get more of them. Jacques Le Goff
(2003) highlights that in the late nineteenth century the source document will m
ark its undisputed supremacy as a historical source. The objective evidence of p
ositivist mode of production and exploitation of knowledge and real. Fustel de C
oulanges assert: "The best historian is he who stands closest to the texts." (Ci
ted in LE GOFF, 2003, p. 527) Le Goff, says that the term in this document shoul
d be understood primarily as text. The written test. Samaran also agrees with th
is vision in the preface of the book L'histoire et ses Méthodes: "There is no st
ory without documents." (Cited in LE GOFF, 2003, p. 529) And again: "For if the
historical facts were not recorded documents , written or recorded, those facts
were lost. "(cited in LE GOFF, 2003, p. 530) But in the late nineteenth century,
the process of expanding the concept of historical sources begins. Fustel de Co
ulanges himself in 1862 in a lecture at the University of Strasbourg was to say:
When the written monuments are missing the story, she should ask the dead langua
ges and their secrets through their forms and words, guessing the thoughts of me
n who spoke. The story should scrutinize the fables, myths, dreams, imagination,
all these old falsehoods under which it must find something very real, human be
liefs. Where man has passed and left some mark of his life and intelligence, the
re is the story. (Apud LE GOFF, 2003, p. 107)
35
This wider vision of the sources is somewhat anticipated by Vico. In reading the
"New Science", began to realize the importance given it by the poetic and mythi
cal sources, which fall today, within the perspective of cultural history, highl
ighting these as representations of imagery and explanation of the conduct of me
n in ancient times . At the time of the "thick darkness" of bestiones of Vico, o
n time without writing. Vico take language as key to his new science, or science
would study and give account of human achievement: "This is another great work
of science: to recognize the true reasons for that, with the passage of time and
the alter language and customs, they came to us [reasons] coated with falsehood
. "(1999, p.96) Similar to Coulanges Vico recognize that these sources originate
d from the memory and language, mythical and fabulous must be penetrated and cle
an their falsehoods. Vico them was attempting to discover the intention and mind
of the ancients. Vico defend the thesis that the historian-philologist may, whe
n looking at this source, obtain a knowledge of thinking and living of the peopl
e. This will require an imaginative effort Vico explained by the analogy between
the human eye and the mirror:
The fancy effect which came from that misery which warned in dignity, the human
mind, which, immersed and buried the body, is naturally inclined to feel things
in the body and must use a lot of stress and fatigue to understand itself as the
bodily eye that sees all objects outside itself and has need of the mirror to s
ee yourself. (1999, p. 132)
Over what would be the "mirror" that could use the mind to see itself? We believ
e that whereas Vico recognized that the only valid knowledge was the cause per m
an can come to knowledge of ancient minds by all that he creates and produces. I
n
36
our study, highlighting in particular its cultural production. This will be the
mirror that the historian can look and see the mind of the ancients. Berlin here
we quote again, we understand very well summarizes this idea:
The key lies in past experience of mankind, that from its earliest origins, can
be read in their mythologies, their languages and their social and religious ins
titutions: it can be perceived in the evidence of extant life forms older that c
an be seen in the old monuments and the accounts of the habits and institutions
of primitive peoples,€as well as the occasional survival - active or fossilized
- among the simple people or delayed, especially in poetry, ritual magic and leg
al structures of primitive societies. The assumption of this process be understa
ndable implies the establishment of order in apparent chaos - a thread of Ariadn
e that not only help us to exit the maze, but that we also explain its complexit
ies. (1972, p. 45-46).
Traditions, fables and myths that man is constantly restoring and counting, Vico
thought possible to penetrate the [...] "thick night of darkness which is hidde
n from us the first remote antiquity [...]" (1999, p. 131). This happens within
the framework of Cultural History by way of the ancient mythological expression
within the concept of representation. We believe that the myth in ancient societ
ies
studied by Vico, is the middle or rather it is a form of language can communicat
e the real. As well seconded by Bosi:
For Vico, the particularly important role of language lies in the fact that the
terms used by man, mostly, including theoretical and abstract, are deeply rooted
in remote forms of life and experience. Thus, studying the etymological derivat
ion of words, illuminate not only the environmental conditions of previous gener
ations, but also the most characteristic of these conditions, the speech and tho
ught closely bind. (1988, p.102).
37
Isah Berlin expands this idea in the thought of Vico, with his concept of poetic
language when he says:
What kinds of words have been used by humans to express their relations with the
world, with them between themselves and with their own past? Vico speaks of wha
t he calls the poetic matrix of mind, or the law of poetic language poetic, mora
l, poetic. Poetic logic and so on. For poetry he means what, according to the Ge
rmans, we tend to assign the people or the people, ie, the modes of expression u
sed by the mass of people, yet sophisticated, the early years of the human race,
not the children of that old age - they were men of letters, scientists and exp
erts. (1976, p.59)
This connection between speech and thought holds custody of the memory of these
groups and challenges the historian to seek to unravel the meanings contained th
erein. In some ways this is the proposal put forward by cultural history, accord
ing to Pesavento:
In general, one can say that the proposal of Cultural History would decipher the
reality of the past through their representations, trying to get to that form,
discursive imagery, in which men expressed themselves and the world. It is clear
that this is a complex process, because the historian will try to read the code
s from another time, which may prove sometimes incomprehensible to him, data fil
ters that interposes the past. This would, however, the big challenge for Cultur
al History, which means reaching a stronghold of sensitivities and investment in
 construction of the real that are not their present. Strictly speaking, the his
torian deals with temporality drained, with the unseen, non-living, which is pos
sible only through access logs and signs of the past that come to him. (2004, p.
42)
Vico recognizes that this return to the past in search of sensitivities or as he
says the effort will require imaginative minds obscure as he says:
[...] To get back to you, by way of human thinking that first born into the worl
d of gentility, rough encounter difficulties that cost us the research of twenty
years, and we had to descend these civilized our human natures to those really
wild and magnets , which we imagine is denied and
38
only with great regret we are allowed to understand (VICO, 1999, p. 135)
We see it, the emergence of "ethnographic hitoriador" by Robert Darnton. A histo
rian who will work with the cultural production of man, seeking to discover thei
r cosmology that had taken [...] instead of logical conclusions, think about thi
ngs, or any material that their culture makes available to them, as stories or c
eremonies ". (1986 p.XIV) Vico exercises the analysis of myth in several of his
texts. New in Science, perhaps the best known is his interpretation of the myth
of the Minotaur. I transcribe below his analysis:
These must have been the bull with which Jupiter abducts Europa, or the minotaur
bull of Minos, with whom he kidnaps young girls and the coasts of Attica and ci
ty dwellers [...] So Theseus must be a character of young Athenians who, by the
law of force by Minos, are devoured by the bull or the privateering ship, which
Ariadne (the art sailor) teaches wired (navigation) to leave the labyrinth of Da
edalus (which€before the large number of islands that bathes and surrounds), whi
ch, having learned the art (by Cretan), abandons Ariadne and Phaedra back, his s
ister (an art that is similar), and thus kills the Minotaur and releases of Athe
ns cruel carving imposed by Minos (becoming privateers the Athenians). (1999, p.
286 and 287)
Disengage from the analysis of Vico's myth of the Minotaur, that one is not enou
gh just use your imagination when faced with a mythical source. Vico as already
highlighted in this study, was a humanist versed in the major works and treatise
s of the Greek thinkers and historians. Tied his knowledge of Greek classical wo
rks and an understanding of what he called poetic mind he interprets this myth a
s the development of knowledge of navigation, learned along the Cretan through y
our contacts resulting from the predatory advances of the condition of pirates.
39
We believe that Vico, using Darnton's words when he describes the practice of cu
ltural historian, will [...] moving from text to context and back to the first,
until your way through a strange mental universe. "(1986, p . XVII) In fact Darn
ton (1986), will do so with great mastery in his book The Great Cat Massacre, wh
ere not working with myths but with stories and fairy tales, common in the old r
egime presents a whole social context and binds it to the stories such as Tom Th
umb, Puss in Boots and Sleeping Beauty, stories which he said were not only fun
but good to think.
40
VICO AND CULTURAL HISTORY
The crisis of paradigms in existence since the early twentieth century with the
natural sciences and in the postwar period also affects the so-called human scie
nces will reach 70 years of history, destabilizing the two major theoretical lin
es then: Marxism and current Annales. (PESAVENTO, 2004) A world post World War I
I, the Cold War and collapse of the socioeconomic model of socialist Eastern Eur
ope brought before the students of history a reality increasingly complex. How t
o cope with the diversity of interests existing in a world increasingly smaller
and full urban tribes, new working relationships on the statement of "doubting e
rgo sun" of postmodernity? A Cultural History or the "New" Cultural History as L
ynn Hunt (2001) named it emerges within this paradigm crisis in history, however
, not as a shed or line completely unprecedented and independent of the two theo
retical lines mentioned above. It comes just within them, guided by a spirit of
renewal. So the New Cultural History "seeks a new form of history with culture,"
as Pesavento (2004, p.15). This is achieved by the Marxist line, with the works
of Edward P. Thompson on the English working class. He points out that within t
he parameters Marxists as social class, are small changes in habits, attitudes,
words, actions that over time they build a culture of class or as he
41
calls: class consciousness (HUNT, 2001). Besides Thompson, Régine Robin (HUNT, 2
001) with his studies on language and history, George Rude (PESAVENTO, 2004) wit
h his studies of collective behaviors of social classes, among others, are "to e
xplore, so-called silences of Marx, in the fields of politics, rites, beliefs, h
abits. "(PESAVENTO, 2004, p. 29) Already in the line of the Annales school, the
cultural history of the developments will come from issues raised with the call
or mentalites history of mentalities. A story dedicated to "the historical inves
tigation of the role of" niches "of life, the inclusion of men in everyday life
and also the multifaceted character and versatile that covers a" slice "of histo
ry, escaping to the researchers specialized in one field." (Dubois, 1995, p.11)
Historians of the fourth generation of Analles as Revel and Chartier will not ag
ree with limiting mentalites called the third level of historical experience: "F
or them, the third level is not at all a level, but a basic determinant of histo
rical reality. "(HUNT, 2001, p. 9) Authors such as Robert Darnton will weave cri
ticism of the history of mentalities, which in his opinion begins to be lost in
a flood of topics without being able to concisely define their field of study. (
HUNT, 2001). Within this process of questioning the mentality and the expansion
of social history begins the search for concepts and principles for directing th
e development of Cultural History, Roger Chartier and Jacques Revel defend the t
hesis that representations of reality are components of social reality and
42
cultural relations that predate the social and economic relations (HUNT, 2001).€
A Cultural History will gradually taking place in the preference of scholars of
history. One thing to highlight in relation to cultural history is strongly mult
idisciplinary their relationship with the object. The approach of the historian
with sociology, anthropology, linguistics, psychoanalysis and other knowledge, e
nriched the possibilities of actual approaches. Robert Darnton, as cited in this
study, sees this recent cultural history as an ethnographic story that transcen
ds the history of intellectual thought or trying to unravel or show the path of
a train of thought or doctrine but rather "studies the way people common underst
and the world. Tries to discover their cosmology, the reality show they organize
d in their minds and expressed in their behavior. "(1986, p. XIV) with the cultu
ral history we intend to perform a reading culture, make a hermeneutic forms of
cryptic explanation of reality through the phenomena engendered and presented by
culture. Two fundamental concepts of this new working practice need to be menti
oned, representation and imagination. By representation we mean that:
[...] Arrays are generating social practices and behaviors, with their integrati
ve and cohesive strength as well as explaining the real. Individuals and groups
give meaning to the world through representations that build on the truth. (PESA
VENTO, 2004, p. 39).
43
Considering this concept, it appears that the work of cultural historian will de
cipher these representations of reality of the past coming to know how they were
constructed and then obtain the direction or vision that groups or individuals
gave to his world within a clipping time. This can be obtained through an accoun
t of a massacre of cats by employees of a printing press (Darnton, 1986) or by t
he Court in the proceedings of an inquisitorial miller Italian (GINZBURG, 1987).
With the development and application of the concept of representation among his
torians comes another key concept for this kind of story, the concept of imagina
tion, as defined by Pesavento (2004, p. 43) "a system of ideas and images of col
lective representation than men in all seasons, built for themselves, giving mea
ning to the world. " Dubois, scholar of Renaissance imagery marks somehow their
sources, as follows:
We limit ourselves therefore to propose a definition and show the signs of an im
aginary set from corpus linguistics documentary consisting of monuments, iconic,
music, beliefs and behaviors induced the documents. Call "imaginary" the visibl
e result of a psychic energy formalized individually and collectively. (1995, p.
21)
As well stated by Pesavento, "the imagery is historical" (2004, p.43), is create
d by man and waves in many ways to show the sense of their world. He is captured
by humans through all their senses. The words, sounds, colors, speeches, photos
, poetry, myths, and so on. are able to explain and teach or multiply ideas and
concepts, hierarchies and class divisions, values and identities. He turns on th
e meaning and reality in the human psyche.
44
Arriving at this point, it is necessary to tap into this brief introduction to c
ultural history, the theme of this work which is what Vico might contribute to t
his new area of historical knowledge? We understand that Giambattista Vico can b
e considered as an important source, where the researcher or student of history
can find the start of development of these pre-supposed key to the cultural hist
ory. Dare we understand that Vico opens this possibility in historical studies,
first by his choice of history as a science able to effectively provide the poss
ibility to understand the process of historical construction and second, the dev
elopment of cultural sources. Pesavento in his Archaeology of Cultural History,
in the second chapter of his book, records that Michelet, located in the Romanti
c period, as one of the founding fathers (2004, p. 19), but Michelet on Vico rec
ognize its master (BOSI, 1979) or as he said: "I was born in Vico" (apud MICHELE
T BURKE, 1997, p.17), so we believe that more than Vico Michelet, can be regarde
d as one of the first scholars to avail themselves of cultural sources . We also
recognize Vico as predecessor of a number of concepts and perspectives that are
now used in the tooling of the researcher's cultural history, among them we hig
hlight: (1) Vico's belief in history as true science that can obtain knowledge o
f the real- be produced by man himself or his verum factum or man can know only
what creates€(2) appreciation of sources of a poetic and mythical that through t
he approach of the imagination can provide credible information about old men an
d were tied to the cultural history.
45
But before we proceed, we must note that this view of the work of Giambattista V
ico, be avant-garde in many respects, is not a unanimous vote. For the historian
Peter Burke, Vico has been overestimated or "exaggerated" and blames some of it
s commentators as Michelet and Croce as creators of a "myth of Vico" (Burke, 199
7, p.13). Vico He was involved in the myth of the "precursor" or the pastor prea
ching in the desert that will be heard only by future generations. He disagrees
that Vico is regarded as a thinker ancestor of a series of multidisciplinary con
cepts, understands that Vico was a leading scholar considering some "insigths" o
f genius, but states that his writings should be considered more as literature t
han as a scientific treatise (BURKE , 1997). He further claims that its follower
s treated their concepts and formulas so anachronistic, they took him out of con
text and put Neapolitan universally. He also criticizes the lack of unity of syn
thesis between its various readers. Burke for his readers as Croce, Michelet, et
c.. utilizaramse concepts of Vico as a mirror to reflect your own ideas, ie the
idea that they attributed to Vico had actually been prepared for them before his
encounter with the work of Vico. Burke says his commentators (specifically Mich
elet and Croce, analyzed by him in his book) failed to capture a vision of all t
he work of Vico, but only in very particular. The progress of studies Vico possi
ble today to make a much more accurate analysis of his work. According to Guido
Humberto (2004), the image of Vico to the style of a Baptist hermit and shut in
46
their world and that although claim your new doctrine is not perceived by anyone
runs extremely idealistic vision that has traditionally been passed by Croce, h
is interpreter most studied in academia. Contrary to this view, Guido (2004) arg
ues that the stereotype of a forgotten Vico, who contributed so much to this ima
ge of a hermit, does not hold. Vico was an active citizen in your city. As he po
ints out:
"The participation of Vico in various academies and literary salons, and univers
ity life, make this man a citizen active in his company, known and in demand for
various social charges, such as funeral orations, laudatory speeches for the we
dding couples noble royal receptions and religious authorities, among many other
literary works that were commissioned. Therefore, Vico was not a minor characte
r in town, was only remarkable because he lived his time. "(2004, p.12)
As the divergent views of the work of Vico, even among his principal advisers an
d commentators on what makes a survey of New Science, it seems, is not made, we
must consider that, and here I agree with Burke, that [ 1] Much of this difficul
ty was not created by Vico, but its main interlocutors and [2] the literary styl
e used by Vico. But this way you can put the work of Vico in the condition of "l
iterature" as you wish Burke (1997, p.20). Isaiah Berlin, commenting on what he
called a "disservice" to Vico provided by many of his advisers, it "understandab
le that happens in the case of a thinker so fruitful [...] (1976, p.22), but see
s not something pejorative about it, but: "The fact that in mind are very differ
ent in the opinion of others to
47
its reflection, is an attribute of intellectual depth "(1976, p.22). Remove Vico
and the genesis of the formation of his thoughts on the cultural context of sev
enteenth-century Naples is a sin of anachronism, but considering the extent of t
heir ideas and opportunities to shape these broad theoretical or based in the fu
ture as exaggeration of chroniclers confronts us an intellectual myopia. Burke h
imself acknowledges that "The New Science is a book so full of ideas that almost
bursts at the seams (1997, p. 45). How well placed for Berlin: "The right Vico'
s originality can undergo scrutiny from any vantage point, without a qualm" (197
6, p.21). Guido for this ambiguity (some think a genius and one other writer con
fused) Vico's thought in academia largely "clear knowledge that brief history bo
oks of philosophy testify about the life and work of Vico" (2004, p.48 ). If we
continue with a cursory study we put the work of Vico in the list of literature.
Another point to consider is the barrier of language used by Vico.€Isaiah Berli
n aware of this difficulty comments:
Vico tends to be baroque, undisciplined and confused, and the eighteenth century
, which came close to adopting the view that they do not say things clearly tant
amount to saying nothing at all, he buried him in a tomb which even his devoted
commentators Italians have managed to lift it completely. (1976, p. 21)
Vico was the last 20 years of his life revising and improving his masterpiece. A
ccording to Guido, Vico held a "tireless efforts [with] the purpose of finding e
xpression adequate to the literary content of the work." (2004, p.13)
48
Vico writes in baroque style, truncated in order to provide the reader a practic
al experience with the thinking of the first men. This alone makes it difficult,
if not perceived, a clear understanding of the work of Vico. One has to conside
r that Vico, unlike most scholars of his time, instead of devoting himself to st
udy the laws of nature, chose to enter the compression of human affairs, turned
to the dark ages, brought to penetrate into the minds of the first men. By doing
so Vico deviates from the line of the study area of natural and pure abstractio
n. This will take Vico to permeate so many multidisciplinary fields of knowledge
, not limiting his work to only one line of study or thought. The biggest proof
is the diverse interests of its researchers. Max Horkheimer recognized in Vico:
[...] The first real philosopher of history in modern times [...] and also a psy
chologist and a sociologist of great category. Furthermore, it was a refreshing
philosophy, founder of the philosophy of art, and possessed an intuition for maj
or cultural contexts with few had had in his time, but in later centuries. (Apud
GUIDO, 2004, p. 14-15)
We see this as the mark of the educator. Vico devoted his entire life to teachin
g. His desire to make the experience more vivid the reader is shown the first li
nes of the Idea of the Work, Science News, when he talks about the board of thin
gs civil and Explanation of the design proposed in the front that serves as an i
ntroduction to the book: "that serve the reader to conceive the idea of this boo
k before even reading, and keep it in memory more easily, after having read it,
making use of the resource that it furnished for fantasy. "(1999, p. 29)
49
Vico was not intended to obscure the meaning of his work, but to make the practi
ce of discovering its meaning closer the reader of your object so much broader.
Finally Vico believed that everything that man creates can hear and understand.
CONCLUSION
50
We propose in this study to identify the contribution of Giambattista Vico's tho
ught to the cultural history. We used to this end, the resources offered by his
main work The New Science, as well as some of his best-known commentators, recog
nizing in it the work of all his basic method and epistemological development. I
n the first chapter of this study highlight the humanistic character of his thin
king and recognize in his work The New Science of their intention recovery of hi
storical knowledge. In Chapter Two, we analyze the criticism of Vico to Cartesia
nism as the only method able to ascertain the truth in all areas of knowledge. T
his truth Cartesian leave aside the result of human practices and would value th
e knowledge of nature. We believe that Vico will do this through the enhancement
of knowledge per causes or that the possibility of knowing the truth of human a
ffairs is more viable and guaranteed than the knowledge of natural things, consi
dering that man is not its creator. As noted in the second chapter, the story wo
uld be the best science that would approach the man and the verum certum therefo
re works with the production of human reality. The third chapter in the vastness
of human production, we believe that Vico will address on the cultural imprint.
Emphasizing the particular language in its various forms as capable of serving
as a "thread of Ariadne" in understanding the way you see and understand the wor
ld of the ancients. Vico believes that "historiadorfilólogo" will be able to pen
etrate the mind of the former considering that this is a product of evolution.
51
Vico highlight the value of the mythic sources in this process of uncovering the
dark past, who appeared as archaeological monuments amenable to application of
a well-dosed, imaginative effort related to historical context. We see that, as
explained in the third chapter of this study, the anticipation, by Vico, discuss
ion and validation of the mythic sources for historical knowledge, and the impor
tance of this for Cultural History.€Finally we made a synthesis on the key conce
pts of Cultural History, and consider aspects of thought and work of Vico highli
ghting: [1] Vico's belief in history as true science able to get the real knowle
dge to be produced by man or your verum factum or man can know only what creates
, it recognizes the value of all human production as a historical source, [2] in
this sense to revisit the important sources of a poetic and mythic approach by
Giambattista Vico in the imagination can provide the framework of reference work
s for credible on old men, and [3] the inclusion of the work of theoretical deve
lopment of Cultural History.
The New Science, was translated and published in Brazil only in 1999, more than
two centuries after its publication, much remains to be studied and "panned" in
this phenomenal work. We see that Vico can still contribute greatly to studies o
n the theory of historical process or cycles viquianos also his ideas on Greek a
nd Roman myths can lead us to a better appreciation of reading and cultural sour
ces, especially relating to representation and imagery.
52
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