The Occasions of Community: Giambattista Vico and the Concept of Society Público

Abstract

This dissertation provides a systematic account of the development of Giambattista Vico's conception of society as it is presented primarily in his Inaugural Orations, Universal Law, and New Science. Three claims remain constant between these three works: (1) Humans are essentially social, (2) Humans do not cause society, but rather occasion it, and (3) the task of the philosopher is to promote humanity's social nature in the face of the otherwise destructive and anti-social impulses brought about as a result of original sin. Many additional features of Vico's conception of society anticipate the modern conception of society that made the social sciences possible. As with modern conceptions of society, Vico's is as a thing separable both from the state and from the individuals that make it up. But Vico's theological commitments prevent him from being interested in society for its own sake. A defining feature of the modern concept of society is a secularism that finds explanations for social phenomena in society itself. Vico is unwavering in his theological commitments. For Vico, society is not an active agent that produces social effects, but is rather a passive aggregate of individuals that is acted upon by a force that is outside of itself: Divine Providence. For this reason, it is argued that Vico's conception of society is not yet modern.

Table of Contents

Introduction...........................................................................................1

_Why Society?........................................................................................8

_Why Vico?............................................................................................15

__A History of the Concept of Society....................................................... 18

__Aristotle.............................................................................................20

__Roman Law and Stoic Cosmopolitanism................................................. 30

__Medieval Religious Thinking................................................................. 39

__The Emergence of Society....................................................................44

The Concept of Society in Early Vico......................................................... 61

_Oration I: On Self Knowledge................................................................. 66

_Oration II: On Virtue and Wisdom........................................................... 71

_Oration III: On True Learning................................................................. 73

_Oration IV: On Education for the Common Good........................................ 78

_Oration V: On The Liberal Arts and Political Power..................................... 83

_Oration VI: On The Proper Order of Studies.............................................. 88

Vico's Metaphysics: Society as First Principle.............................................. 91

_On the Most Ancient Wisdom of the Italians.............................................. 91

__Critique of Metaphysics........................................................................ 92

__Critique of the Self as First Principle....................................................... 97

_Universal Law...................................................................................... 101

__Vico and Malebranche......................................................................... 103

__Eternal Ideas and the Possibility of Community....................................... 109

__God's Goodness and the Preservation of the Whole................................. 111

__Human Nature and the Life of Contemplation......................................... 113

__The Occasional Nature of Human Society............................................... 116

__An Anatomy of Natural Society............................................................. 118

Vico's New Science of Society................................................................... 120

_A New Metaphysics, A New Method.......................................................... 125

_The Occasions of Human Society............................................................. 135

__The Age of Gods, the Age of Necessity................................................... 137

__The Age of Heroes, The Age of Utility..................................................... 142

__The Age of Men, the Age of Luxury........................................................ 149

Conclusion............................................................................................. 155

Bibliography........................................................................................... 161

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Philosophy
Degree	PhD
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	History of Science Philosophy Religion, Philosophy of
Palavra-chave	VIco, Giambattista Occasionalism Society History of Social Science Providence Malebranche Conceptual History
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Verene, Donald Phillip, Emory University
Committee Members	Hartle, Ann, Emory University Sullivan, Michael, Emory University

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