On the Study Methods of Our Time by Giambattista Vico; Elio Gianturco Review by: Thomas G.

Bergin The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Dec., 1968), pp. 691-692 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1878556 . Accessed: 02/04/2012 19:44
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Book Reviews 691 to some general in his field.Whenhe does attempt to relatehis material theory(as, e.g., Tocquevilleon the effects of democratizing an officer corps,or Huntington on the virtues of military professionalism as a guarantee of civiliancontrolin a democracy), he does so in a fashionthat historians will findstimulating and useful.His conclusions about the future are cautiouslyoptimistic, thoughhe believes that the danger of praetorianism will surviveas long as France lacks "a clear and abiding publicattachment to a stableconstitutional framework" (p. 374). Stanford University
GORDONWRIGHT

of Our Time.By Giambattista Vico.Translated, Methods with On theStudy of Liberal and Notes,by Elio Gianturco. an Introduction ("The Library Arts," No. 153.) Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill Indianapolis, Co., 1965. Pp. xxxvii+98.$1.45 rationewas a lecturegivenat the opening The De temporis studiorum a year later.Of of the university year in Naples in 1708 and published "In theyear 1708 the Vico himself writes thiswork, in his autobiography: resolved to have a solemnpublicinauguration of studies Royal University in the and to dedicateit to the king with an orationto be delivered forthisocof Naples. The oration presence of CardinalGrimani, viceroy and it gaveVico a happyopportunity casionwas therefore to be published, that should bringsome new and profitable to devise an argument disto be numbered coveryto the worldof letters-a desireworthy among those of Bacon in his New Organ of the Sciences. It turnson the and disadvantages as compared of studying of our manner with advantages whichdisadvantages of knowledge: thatof the ancients in all branches of and by whatmeans;and as fortheunavoidable our way could be avoided, of the ancients be compensated ones, by whatadvantages theymight (so to whatwe possessbeyondthe thatby addingonlya Plato,forexample, we should have a completeuniversity of today); to the end ancients, that all divine and human wisdom should everywhere reignwith one spiritand coherein all its parts,so thatthe scienceslend each othera to anyother"(p. 146, The Autobioghandand noneis a hindrance helping Vico [Ithaca, raphy ofGiambattista N. Y., 1944]). own definition Such is the author's of his work,whichin facthardly does it justice. The languageand styleare academic, as was proper to the occasion,and to our modernears the effect may even be described as "pedantic."For all that,the contents of the lectureare anything but In thesebrief "stuffy." pagesVico takesa bold stand, revolutionary forthe times,in favorof fact beforetheory, development of the inventive and beforethe critical faculties imaginative or, one might say practice before Students of Vico's philosophical pedantry. trajectory see in it the first overtstatement of his anti-Cartesian position, students of Vico toutcourt are fascinated by the preliminary of the independent glimmerings and to be laterdeveloped and set forth in theNew Science.It original position is in fact, as Fausto Nicolini wrote (quoted approvingly by Professor in his conciseand valuableintroduction), Gianturco "the mostimportant on Education(1693) and the Locke's Thoughts pedagogicessay between

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Book Reviews

Emile (1762) of Rousseau."It is a finething to have it availablein English. For thetranslation, I have nothing but admiration. It cannothave been an easy task,forVico's Latinis not of the simplest and certain keywords are hardto find equivalents forin modern colloquialEnglish. Givenpolemical intent (or in a morevulgar language, a tastefornit-picking), I suppose one could carp at an occasionalword."Ratione" itself is a slippery one; does "methods" reallyhitit? I noticein Bompiani's Dizionariodelle opere e dei personaggi it is translated "criterio"; perhaps themeaning is "theory" or even "philosophy." But method is whatVico talksabout,and it does very well here. Gianturco'stranslation is as scrupulousas one could hope forand readable, too. In addition to theaforementioned introduction, the book containsa sizable bibliography. All in all we have here a fine contribution to thestudy of Vico forwhichI suspect manyof us are gratefulin theanniversary year1968. THOMAS G. BERGIN Yale University