Vico and Historical Sociology

G. Vico is presented as an originator of some of the basic ideas underlying the field of historical sociology. Historical sociology is meant to render a conceptualized account of societal processes as they actually occur, ie, the occurrences are considered as ends in themselves, though illuminated by theory. Vico is characterized as being opposed to the denial of man's freedom in the Cartesian assumption of mathematical certitude as the only permissible certitude in the pursuit of knowledge. In contrast to, but also in complementation of, the Hobbesian construct of the "state of nature" as necessitating society, Vico presents a historical imagination of religious awe as the pillar of community, antedating society (terms used in the Toenniesian sense). The concept of poetry as the language of ancient man is characterized as the core of the Vichian methodology. The corporeal metaphors in contemporary language are used as guideposts for the understanding of historical continuities. The Vichian principle of the "ideal eternal history" is accepted as an attempt to look for patterns in events & processes, & to use comparison over time & space to ascertain them. However, in combination with the Vichian theory of stratification, the principle of the "ideal eternal history" & the trichotomy which is contained in it can be reduced to a dichotomy so as to transform the theory of stages into a theory of limiting points. It is doubted whether the idea that we understand history because we "make it" is acceptable, except if we added that imagination (ingenium) is to complement whatever scientific knowledge is available. AA.