Giambattista Vico and the New Psychological Science

Description

Giambattista Vico (1668–1744) was an Italian philosopher, rhetorician, and historian. As one of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment, he exerted tremendous influence on the social sciences. He was the first to stress cultural and linguistic dimensions in the development of both the human mind and social institutions. Although his ideas on the relationship between mind and culture and his epistemology have inspired the work of many scholars in psychology, his sizeable influence has been scarcely acknowledged. The volume is organized in two sections. The first locates Vico in his historical context and in the landscape of contemporary human and social sciences. The second part presents those of Vico's concepts that seem promising for the development of a new way of looking at psychological phenomena. In the book's conclusion, Luca Tateo gathers the ideas of the volume's contributors to suggest future development of the psychological sciences. This book aims to show how Vico's insights can inspire future research in the psychological sciences. It collects multidisciplinary contributions of leading international scholars that draw upon the thought of this original thinker. Collectively, the contributors remind us of the legacy and continuing influence of this inspiring historical figure. Cover Title Copyright Contents Series Editor’s Foreword: Imagining a New Science of Psychology Preface: Why Social Sciences Need Vico Introduction: What For? Notes Part I. Vico in Context 1 Giambattista Vico: His Life, Times, Ideas, and His Relevance Today Introduction Vico’s Life and His Times Ideas, Criticisms, and Reception Vico and Psychology Today Concluding Remarks 2 The Genesis of Vico’s Ideas: An Explorative Study on Psychology as a Premise for the Verum Factum Principle Introduction Vico’s Understanding of Metaphysics Changes in Metaphysics The Verum Factum Principle Thinking Vico’s Understanding of AXIOMS The Poetic Wisdom Faculty Psychology The Poetic Logic The Arbitrary Sign and Development Three Stages of Civilization Some Conclusions 3 Vico—From Idealism to Cultural Psychology: Revising the Past for the Future Introduction History in a New Epistemological Key for Cultural Psychology Vico on Language as History Vico for Cultural Psychology Reception for Future Acknowledgment Note Part II. Vico’s Theoretical Concepts and Legacy 4 Vico, (Particular) Imaginative Universals, Divine Providence, and the Imaginative Work Needed in Relating Oneself to Others Introduction: The Primacy of the Social and of Our Ways of Talking The Recovery and Relocation of Meaning Vico’s “Master Key”: The Poetic Origins of Our Forms of Expression Understanding Vico “from within” Some Central (Orienting) Principles of Vico’s Art in Creating His New Science Beginning, not with Hypotheses, but with (Particular) Imaginative Universals Conclusions Notes 5 Language, Mind, and Culture Human Mind and Language Metaphor as the Place Where Sense Is Generated Poetic Logic Linguistic Competence, Communicative Competence, and Metaphorical-Conceptual Competence Corporeity and Poetic Logic: Gesture and Metaphor Mute Language and Speaking Conceptual Assemblative Likeness and Metaphorical Attraction Poetic Logic and Mathesis Singularis On Limits of Vichian “Ideology” Notes 6 Giambattista Vico’s Common Sense Giambattista Vico and Anthony Ashley Cooper Common Sense as Action Common Sense after Vico Conclusion Note 7 The Epistemic Value of Fantasy Introduction Imagination in Late Medieval Thinking Vico’s Fantasy in the Christian Tradition Fantasy as a Form of Human Intuition Conclusions Notes Conclusion: Toward a New (Psychological) Science What Is Psychology For? Toward a New Look at Psychological Sciences The Art of Psychology Note References Contributors Editor Authors Index