- 文档格式
书名: Vico, Genealogist of Modernity
作者: Robert C. Miner (Author)
出版社: University of Notre Dame Press; 1 edition (July 24, 2002)
语言：English
ISBN-10: 0268034680
ISBN-13: 978-0268034689
Book Description
In this lucid and probing study, Robert C. Miner argues that Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) was the architect of a subversive, genealogical approach to modernity. Miner documents the genesis of Vico's stance toward modernity in the first phase of his thought. Through close examination of his early writings, centering on Vico's critique of Descartes and his elaboration of the 'verum-factum' principle, Vico, Genealogist of Modernity reveals that Vico strives to acknowledge the technical advances of modernity while unmasking its origins in human pride.
Review
"Miner has given us nourishing food for thought, and this work deserves attention, not least for Miner's meticulous scholarship. . . . It should . . . rekindle an interest in this engaging, often neglected Neapolitan thinker." - Modern Age
"Miner (philosophy, Boston Coll.) contends that Vico sought to undermine Descartes's philosophy, and the break in European thought it inaugurated, by means of a historical critique of reason. In this respect, Vico was a precursor of 19th-century historicism. Challenging Croce and Isaiah Berlin, Miner does not think that this critique made Vico into an essentially modern thinker. Instead, he contends that Vico used philology and historical investigation to undermine the pretensions of modern thought. Like St. Augustine, whom he followed, Vico contended that secular thought stems from human pride and is in essence sinful. Miner contrasts Vico with Nietzsche, who likewise pursued a genealogical method to criticize philosophy. Unlike Nietzsche, however, Vico aimed to defend Christianity. Miner's book rests on a thorough knowledge of Vico's work, especially stressing the early Universal Law. Though his interpretation has been heavily influenced by John Milbank's two-volume The Religious Dimension in the Thought of Giambattista Vico, it offers original insight and understanding into a seminal, if occasionally neglected, figure and is therefore highly recommended for larger public as well as academic libraries." - David Gordon, Bowling Green Univ., Ohio, Library Journal 2002
"Miner has produced something very remarkablea short, clear account of Vicos writings based upon a comprehensive knowledge of all the crucial texts. Vico, Genealogist of Modernity does not shirk Vicos difficulties, and yet it comes to clear conclusions which I think help us at last to make sense of what Vico is really saying. It establishes beyond doubt that Vico was not a secular skeptic, but an Orthodox Catholic thinker, who nonetheless re-expressed this Orthodoxy in a fashion so radical that it outflanked the radicalism of the Enlightenment. This book is a winner." - John Milbank, Frances Myers Ball Professor of Philosophical Theology, University of Virginia
"In this erudite, sharply written book, Robert Miner passionately argues that Vicos thought represents a radical alternative to the dominant paradigms about modernity, which are steadily shadowed by nihilism, are blinded by scholarly and self-centered conceits, and wander in their own discontents. By rigorous and close textual readings, Miners analysis focuses on the two major works by Vico: the Diritto universale and the New Science, and in both texts he finds a compelling case for a philosophy born not of pride but of humility. In the poetic-rational account Miner weaves, Vico's philosophy, which is articulated in the wake of Christian and classical traditions of thought, is capable of questioning modernity's scientific self-delusions. It also enables us to reflect on the future of humanity as it unveils the historical and providential design of our culture." - Giuseppe Mazzotta, Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Professor of Italian Language and Literature, Yale University and author of The New Map of the World: The Poetic Philosophy of Giambattista Vico
About the Author
Robert C. Miner is professor of philosophy at Boston College.
