New Science

Barely acknowledged in his lifetime, the New Science of Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) is an astonishingly perceptive and ambitious attempt to decipher the history, mythology and laws of the ancient world. Discarding the Renaissance notion of the classical as an idealised model for the modern, it argues that the key to true understanding of the past lies in accepting that the customs and emotional lives of ancient Greeks and Romans, Egyptians, Jews and Babylonians were radically different from our own. Along the way, Vico explores a huge variety of topics, ranging from physics to poetics, money to monsters, and family structures to the Flood. Marking a crucial turning-point in humanist thinking, New Science has remained deeply influential since the dawn of Romanticism, inspiring the work of Karl Marx and even influencing the framework for Joyce's Finnegan's Wake.

Table of Contents:
Translated by David Marsh with an Introduction by Anthony GraftonIntroduction by Anthony Grafton Translator's Preface Idea of the Work Explanation of the Frontispiece Book 1: Establishing Principles Chronological Table Section 1. Notes on the Chronological Table Section 2. Elements Section 3. Principles Section 4. Method Book 2: Poetic Wisdom Prolegomena Introduction Chapter 1. Wisdom in General Chapter 2. Introduction to Poetic Wisdom and its Divisions Chapter 3. The Universal Flood and the Giants Section 1. Poetic Metaphysics Chapter 1. Poetic Metaphysics as the Origin of Poetry, Idolatry, Divination, and Sacrifices Chapter 2. Corollaries on the Principal Aspects of the New Science Section 2. Poetic Logic Chapter 1. Poetic Logic Chapter 2. Corollaries on Poetic Figures of Speech, Monsters, and Metamorphoses Chapter 3. Corollaries on the Speech in Poetic Archetypes of the First Nations Chapter 4. Corollaries on the Origins of Languages and Letters; Including the Origins of Hieroglyphics, Laws, Names, Family Arms, Medals, and Money; and the Origins of the First Language and Literature of the Natural Law of Nations Chapter 5. Corollaries on the Origins of Poetic Style, Digressions, Inversions, Prose Rhythm, Song, and Verse Chapter 6. Further Corollaries Chapter 7. Final Corollaries on Logic in Educated People Section 3. Poetic Morality Chapter 1. Poetic Morality and the Origins of the Common Virtues Taught by Religion through the Institution of Matrimony Section 4. Poetic Economics, or Household Management Chapter 1. Household Management in Nuclear Families Chapter 2. Extended Families of Family Servants as Essential to the Founding of Cities Chapter 3. Corollaries on Contracts Sealed by Simple Consent Chapter 4. A Principle of Mythology Section 5. Poetic Politics Chapter 1. Poetic Politics: The Severely Aristocratic Form of the First Commonwealths Chapter 2. All Commonwealths Arise from Invariable Principles of Fiefs Chapter 3. Origins of the Census and Public Treasury Chapter 4. The Origins of Roman Assemblies Chapter 5. Corollary: Divine Providence Ordains both Commonwealths and the Natural Law of Nations Chapter 6. Heroic Politics Continued Chapter 7. Corollaries on Roman Antiquities, Particularly the Imaginary Monarchy at Rome and the Imaginary Popular Liberty Established by Junius Brutus Chapter 8. Corollary on the Heroism of the First Peoples Section 6. Epitomes of Poetic History Chapter 1. Epitomes of Poetic History Section 7. Poetic Physics Chapter 1. Poetic Physics Chapter 2. Poetic Physics of the Human Body: Heroic Nature Chapter 3. Corollary on Heroic Statements Chapter 4. Corollary on Heroic Descriptions Chapter 5. Corollary on Heroic Customs Section 8. Poetic Cosmography Chapter 1. Poetic Cosmography Section 9. Poetic Astronomy Chapter 1. Poetic Astronomy Chapter 2. Astronomical, Physical, and Historical Proof that All Ancient Pagan Nations Shared Uniform Astronomical Principles Section 10. Poetic Chronology Chapter 1. Poetic Chronology Chapter 2. Canon of Chronology for Determining the Origins of Universal History, Which Much Antedate the Monarchy of Ninus, its Traditional Starting Point Section 11. Poetic Geography Chapter 1. Poetic Geography Chapter 2. Corollary on Aeneas' Arrival in Italy Chapter 3. Names and Descriptions of Heroic Cities Conclusion Book 3: Discovery of the True Homer Section 1. The Search for the True Homer Introduction Chapter 1. The Esoteric Wisdom Attributed to Homer Chapter 2. Homer's Native Land Chapter 3. Homer's Age Chapter 4. Homer's Incomparable Gift for Heroic Poetry Chapter 5. Philosophical Proofs for the Discovery of the True Homer Chapter 6. Philological Proofs for the Discovery of the True Homer Section 2. Discovery of the True Homer Introduction Chapter 1. Inconsistencies and Improbabilities in the Traditional Homer Become Consistent and Necessary in the Homer Discovered Here Chapter 2. Homer's Epics: Two Great Repositories of the Natural Law of the Greeks Appendix: A Rational History of the Dramatic and Lyric Poets Book 4: The Course of Nations Introduction Section 1. Three Kinds of Human Nature Section 2. Three Kinds of Customs Section 3. Three Kinds of Natural Law Section 4. Three Kinds of Government Section 5. Three Kinds of Language Section 6. Three Kinds of Symbols Section 7. Three Kinds of Jurisprudence Section 8. Three Kinds of Authority Section 9. Three Kinds of Reason Chapter 1. Divine Reason and Reason of State Chapter 2. Corollary on the Ancient Romans' Wisdom of State Chapter 3. Corollary: The Fundamental History of Roman Law Section 10. Three Kinds of Judgments Chapter 1. First Kind: Divine Judgments Chapter 2. Corollary on Duels and Reprisals Chapter 3. Second Kind: Ordinary Judgments Chapter 4. Third Kind: Human Judgments Section 11. Three Schools of Thought Chapter 1. Schools of Thought in Religious, Punctilious, and Civil Ages Section 12. Further Proofs Drawn from the Properties of Heroic Aristocracies Introduction Chapter 1. The Guarding of Boundaries Chapter 2. The Guarding of Social Orders Chapter 3. The Guarding of the Laws Section 13 Chapter 1. Further Proofs Drawn from Mixed Commonwealths which Combine Earlier Governments with Later States Chapter 2. An Eternal and Natural "Royal Law" By Which Nations Come to Rest in Monarchies Chapter 3. A Refutation of the Principles of Political Theory Based on the System of Jean Bodin Section 14. Final Proofs Confirming the Course of Nations Chapter 1. Punishments, Wars, and the Order of Numbers Chapter 2. Corollary: Ancient Roman Law as Serious Epic Poem, and Ancient Jurisprudence as Severe Poetry Containing the First Rough Outlines of Legal Metaphysics; also, the Legal Origins of Greek Philosophy Book 5: The Resurgence of Nations and the Recurrence of Human Institutions Introduction Chapter 1. Medieval Barbaric History Illuminated by Ancient Barbaric History Chapter 2. The Recurrence of the Invariable Nature of Fiefs, and the Recurrence of Ancient Roman Law in Feudal Law Chapter 3. Description of the Ancient and Modern Worlds in the Light of the New Science Conclusion of the Work On the Eternal Natural Commonwealth, Best in its Kind, Ordained by Divine Providence Index and Glossary

About the Author :
Although Vico (1668-1744) lived his whole life as an obscure academic in Naples, his New Science is an astonishingly ambitious attempt to decode the history, mythology and law of the ancient world.