The dedication of my book, besides being a token of respect to one of the greatest modern teachers of the history of philosophy, is intended to express the expectation and hope that the gap in this history to which I have called attention more than once, especially on page 277 of the present volume, may soon be filled. B. C. RAIANO (AQUILA), _September_ 1910. TRANSLATOR'S NOTE This volume represents the author's _La Filosofia di Giambattista Vico_ (Bari, 1911) forming vol. ii. of his _Saggi filosofici_; and also contains a paper read before the Accademia Pontaniana in March 1912 entitled "Le Fonti della gnoseologia vichiana," which figures here as Appendix III. The whole of the translation has been revised by the Author. R. G. C. OXFORD, 1913. CONTENTS I. VICO'S THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE: FIRST PHASE II. VICO'S THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE: SECOND PHASE III. INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE NEW SCIENCE IV. THE IMAGINATIVE FORM OF KNOWLEDGE (POETRY AND LANGUAGE) V. THE SEMI-IMAGINATIVE FORM OF KNOWLEDGE (MYTH AND RELIGION) VI. THE MORAL CONSCIOUSNESS VII. MORALITY AND RELIGION VIII. MORALITY AND LAW IX. THE HISTORICAL ASPECT OF LAW X. PROVIDENCE XI. THE LAW OF REFLUX XII. METAPHYSICS XIII. TRANSITION TO HISTORY: GENERAL CHARACTER OF VICO'S TREATMENT OF HISTORY XIV. NEW PRINCIPLES FOR THE HISTORY OF OBSCURE AND LEGENDARY PERIODS XV. HEROIC SOCIETY XVI. HOMER AND PRIMITIVE POETRY XVII. THE HISTORY OF ROME AND THE RISE OF DEMOCRACY XVIII. THE RETURN OF BARBARISM: THE MIDDLE AGES XIX. VICO AND THE TENDENCIES OF CONTEMPORARY CULTURE XX. CONCLUSION: VICO AND LATER THOUGHT, PHILOSOPHICAL AND HISTORICAL APPENDICES I. ON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF G. B. VICO II. THE LATER HISTORY OF VICO'S THOUGHT III. THE SOURCES OF VICO'S THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE IV. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES NOTE.--PASSAGES OF VICO'S WORKS TO WHICH ESPECIAL REFERENCE IS MADE IN THE COURSE OF THE EXPOSITION INDEX OF NAMES CHAPTER I VICO'S THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE: FIRST PHASE The earliest phase of Vico's theory of knowledge takes the form of a direct criticism of and antithesis to the Cartesianism which had guided European thought for more than half a century, and was to maintain its supremacy over mind and spirit for another hundred years.