Vico’s passage in the New Science about the “midway” role of speech, caught in the relationship between mind and body, is re-interpreted in this paper in order to clarify the grounding of mind and body and their mutual shaping by means of the interrelationship within the element of speech. Such relationship is conducive to opening up a dimension that is ethical as well as communicative. This leads to a reconsideration of the dialectic of truth and falsehood, as well as of that concerning necessity and liberty. A redefinition of the notion of authority, starting from the long range implications of the relationship between mind and body, is also brought forth, showing that such implications are not just moral but also political, a conclusion supported by a parallel reading of a passage by Francis Bacon, probably one of Vico’s most neglected “four authors”.
«Fancied bodies to be Gods». Ethical aspects of the mind-body relationship in the New Science
BASSI, ROMANA
2014
Abstract
Vico’s passage in the New Science about the “midway” role of speech, caught in the relationship between mind and body, is re-interpreted in this paper in order to clarify the grounding of mind and body and their mutual shaping by means of the interrelationship within the element of speech. Such relationship is conducive to opening up a dimension that is ethical as well as communicative. This leads to a reconsideration of the dialectic of truth and falsehood, as well as of that concerning necessity and liberty. A redefinition of the notion of authority, starting from the long range implications of the relationship between mind and body, is also brought forth, showing that such implications are not just moral but also political, a conclusion supported by a parallel reading of a passage by Francis Bacon, probably one of Vico’s most neglected “four authors”.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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