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VICO: THE FIRST NEW SCIENCE
The First New Science gives a clear account of Vico’s mature philosophy:
the belief that certain functions which are necessaryfor the maintenance
of human societyand culture, including philosophy,also condition them
historically. This challenges the traditional view that philosophy can lay
claim to a historicallyindependent viewpoint, thus bringing into question
the legitimacyof the claims of universal prescriptive political theories as
against the de facto political beliefs of particular historical societies. This is
the first of Vico’s later major books in which he wrote in Italian in order not
merelyto expound, but to demonstrate in practice, his conception of the
philosophical importance of etymology. This Cambridge Texts edition is
the plete English translation of the text. panied by
a glossary, bibliography, chronology of Vico’s life and expository intro-
duction, it makes this important work accessible to students for the first
time.
is Emeritus Professor of Philosophyat the Universityof
Birmingham. He has published over a hundred articles and books in
the fields of philosophyof history,epistemology,the historyof philo-
sophyand idealist works include Vico: a Study of the
New Science (Cambridge, ; nd edn )andHuman Nature and
Historical Knowledge: Hume, Hegel and Vico (Cambridge, ). He is also
the translator and editor of Vico: Selected Writings (Cambridge, ).
CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE
HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Series editors
R G, Reader in Philosophy, University of Cambridge
Q S, Regius Professor of Modern History in the
University of Cambridge
Cambridge Texts in the Historyof Political Thought is now firmlyes-
tablished as the major student textbook series in political theory. It aims
to make available to students all the most important texts in the history
of western political thought, from an