Giambattista Vico

23 June 1668 – 23 January 1744

Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) was an Italian philosopher, rhetorician, and historian, best known for his New Science (Scienza Nuova), which proposed a cyclical philosophy of history and founded what would become the philosophy of history and cultural anthropology. A critic of Cartesian rationalism, he argued that humans can truly know only what they themselves have made. Largely neglected in his lifetime, his ideas later influenced thinkers from Herder and Michelet to Joyce and Isaiah Berlin.

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Life events

Born in Naples, Italy
23 June 1668

Giambattista Vico was born to a poor bookseller's family in Naples on 23 June 1668.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Largely self-educated after irregular Jesuit schooling
c. 1680

Illness and poverty interrupted Vico's formal education, and he taught himself philosophy, law, and classical literature in his father's bookshop.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Worked as tutor to the Rocca family at Vatolla
1686 – 1695

From 1686 to 1695 Vico served as tutor to the nephews of the Bishop of Ischia at the castle of Vatolla, years of intensive private study.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Appointed professor of rhetoric at the University of Naples
1699

In 1699 Vico won the chair of rhetoric at Naples, a modest post he held for most of his career.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Married Teresa Caterina Destito
December 1699

In December 1699 Vico married Teresa Destito, with whom he had eight children.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Published On the Most Ancient Wisdom of the Italians, his critique of Descartes
1710

The 1710 work advanced Vico's verum factum principle, that truth and the made are convertible, against Cartesian rationalism.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Published the first edition of the New Science (Scienza Nuova)
1725

The 1725 Scienza Nuova set out Vico's cyclical theory of the rise and fall of civilizations; he issued substantially revised editions in 1730 and 1744.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Published his Autobiography
1728

Written at the invitation of a scholarly project, Vico's intellectual autobiography appeared in 1728 and applied his historical method to his own life.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Appointed royal historiographer to Charles of Bourbon, King of Naples
1735

In 1735 Vico received the honorific post of royal historiographer, a late recognition of his standing.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died in Naples
23 January 1744

Vico died on 23 January 1744, shortly before the definitive third edition of the New Science appeared.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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