On Humanistic Education - by Giambattista Vico (Paperback)

About the Book

Vico's earliest extant scholarly works, the six orations on humanistic education, offer the first statement of ideas that Vico would continue to refine throughout his life.

Book Synopsis

Vico's earliest extant scholarly works, the six first statement of ideas that Vico would continue to refine throughout his life. Delivered between 1699 and 1707 to usher in the new academic year at the University of Naples, the orations are brought together here for the first time in English in an authoritative translation based on Gian Galeazzo Visconti's 1982 Latin/Italian edition. In the lectures, Vico draws liberally on the classical philosophical and legal traditions as he explores the relationship between the Greek dictum "Know thyself' and liberal education. As he sets forth the values and goals of a humanist curriculum, Vico reveals the beginnings of the anti-Cartesian position he will pursue in On the Study Methods of Our Time ( 1709). Also found in the orations are glimpses ofVico's later views on the theory of interpretation and on the nature of language, imagination, and human creativity, along with many themes that were to be fully developed in his magnum opus, The New Science (1744). On Humanistic Education will be welcomed by Vichians and their students, intellectual historians, and others in the fields of philosophy, literary theory, history and methods of education, classics, and rhetoric.

Review Quotes

"A significant contribution. One of the difficulties with the study of Vico's work is that it has tended to neglect the early phases of his intellectual development. On Humanistic Education will be essential for any student of Vico's thought."

About the Author

Now retired, Giorgio A. Pinton taught at the University of Hartford, the University of Connecticut, and Trinity College. Arthur W. Shippee is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of Religious Studies at the University of Hartford. Donald Phillip Verene is Charles Howard Candler Professor of Metaphysics and Moral Philosophy and Director of the Institute for Vico Studies at Emory University.