Mind, Body, and Language in Vico's Scienza nuova

Abstract

This essay explores how Vico employs the terms mind, body, and language in his magnus opus, on the basis of the crux interpretandum that Vico created by turning the traditional mind-body problem into a body-language-mind problem (Book IV, 1045). The problem is approached through a reading of Scienza nuova 1744 that emphasizes Vico's concern with issues of equity, justice, and jurisprudence through human history, starting in the early civilizations. The "languages" (mute, epistolary, articulate) of the three "ages" that Vico delineates (the ages of "gods", "heroes", and "men") are interpreted in this context. The proposed interpretation also influences how to understand Vico's references to poetry and imagination. The thesis presented concludes with identifying Vico's use of the terms mind, body, and language as symbolic and metaphorical rather than anthropologically.

Keywords

• giambattista vico
• mind-body problem
• language
• ideology
• early civilizations