Il metodo di una scienza nuova. Principi e idee

This paper is based on the idea that Vico, in founding a new science, must also establish a method suitable for understanding the specific object, which in this case is human history. In the belief that the period covering the years from 1720 (publication of Diritto universale) to 1725 (publication of the first edition of Scienza nuova) is the one in which Vico actually discovered the method, we will attempt to reconstruct it. However, it will be necessary to start from the most complete exposition of the method, namely that contained in the successive editions of Scienza nuova (1730 and 1744), in order to try to understand its nature and effectiveness. If the exposition of the method always comes after its construction, then it is possible that the Scienza nuova of 1725, which was itself a rewriting and reduction of a previous edition that has been lost, constitutes a complete example of the application of a method, but cannot yet contain its abstract principles.