Vico Genealogist of Modernity - by Robert C Miner (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

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.

From the Back Cover

"Miner has produced something very remarkable--a short, clear account of Vico's writings based upon a comprehensive knowledge of all the crucial texts. Vico, Genealogist of Modernity does not shirk Vico's 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 Vico's 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, Miner's 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

Review Quotes

"... written with ease and enthusiasm." --Renaissance Quarterly

"...interesting interpretation of the significance of Vico's thought...." --The Sixteenth Century Journal

"...well structured and stimulating." --Philosophy in Review

"[M]any novel and positive insights... Chief of these is the way he incorporates Vico's Catholicism into his analysis of Vico's thought. He is really the first Vico scholar to try this kind of synthesis in a systematic way. ... he deserves great credit for calling attention to the New Science, and Vico's thinking as a whole, as an important episode in the study of the history of ethics and religion." --New Vico Studies

"Miner contends that reading Vico to understand his critique of secular modernity is the key to discovering him. His text is rich in probing questions and comparisons. . . . His style is clear and interesting and ends with helpful notes, bibliography, and index." --Choice

"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's book rests on a thorough knowledge of Vico's work. . . . [It] offers original insight and understanding into a seminal, if occasionally neglected, figure and is therefore highly recommended." --Library Journal

About the Author

Robert C. Miner is professor of philosophy at Boston College.