Introduction

Summary

One of the main lessons that The First New Science teaches in relation to political theory is that any such theory must be located within a science that incorporates both a philosophy and a history of the whole of human nature and human practice. In what follows, I shall begin, therefore, by tracing some key points which led Vico to this conclusion, before discussing some of the issues that arise from the conception he finally reached.

Vico's earliest theoretical writings show that, from the start of his professional career, one of his primary concerns was the relationship between the education of the individual and the interests of society. In the First Oration (1699) he argues that while the goal of education is self-knowledge, this can be reached only by a true understanding of the liberal and scientific arts. The theme re-emerges in the Fourth Oration (1704), where it is extended to the claim that the individual should be educated for the well-being of the state. In the Sixth (1707), Vico focuses on the forms of corruption that we inherit from Adam, specifically inadequacies of language, belief and desire, the remedy for which lies in the development of eloquence, knowledge and virtue. These, again, require a grounding in the liberal and scientific arts.