This book is a retrospective view of modern philosophical anthropology through the works of two of its greatest exponents. the author demonstrates how mythology, the philosophy of history and language and Vico's concept of man had as a constant referral point Malebranche's psychology with its Cartesian formulation. The idolatrous and mythopoietic imagination that is described in La Scienza Nuova (New Science) has much in common with the "pagan" mind (that is to say the mind subjugated to passions, sensitivity and fantasy that is described in La Recherche (The Search after Truth). Some of the themes discussed here are myth, the metaphoric nature of thought, idolatry, the formation of mentality, the relationships which bind passions and representations and the association of ideas through iconic images. Also discussed are other themes such as the structure of society and imagination, imitation, persuasion and social relationships, communication within society between illustrious imaginations. Moreover in Malebranche has been found a complex and complete theory of imaginative universals (universali fantastici). The philosophy of the imagination in Vico and Malebranche is translated and edited by Giorgio A. Pinton.

A full interpretation of Giambattista Vico's thought, based primarily on his major work, the New Science, and on his earlier Latin writings.

With a new introduction by Alan Sica. Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) is often regarded as the beleaguered, neglected genius of pre-Enlightenment Naples. His work-though known to Herder, Coleridge, Matthew Arnold, and Michelet-widely and deeply appreciated only during the twentieth century. Although Vico may be best known for the use James Joyce made of his theories in Finnegans Wake, Croce's insightful analysis of Vico's ideas played a large role in alerting readers to his unique voice. Croce's volume preceded Joyce's creation of "Mr. John Baptister Vickar" by a quarter century. During the last 25 years Vico's ideas about history, language, anti-Cartesian epistemology, and rhetoric have begun to receive the recognition their admirers have long claimed they deserve. Increasing numbers of publications appear annually which bear the stamp of Vico's thinking. Even if he is not yet so renowned as some of his contemporaries, such as Locke, Voltaire, or Montesquieu, there are good reasons to believe that in the future he will be equally honored as a cultural theorist. As a theorist of historical process and its language, there is no more innovative voice than his until the twentieth century-which explains in part why such figures as Joyce and R.G. Collingwood freely drew on Vico's work, particularly his New Science, while creating their own. If Vico was Naples' most brilliant, if uncelebrated, citizen prior to the Enlightenment taking hold in Southern Italy, then Croce (1866-1952) is surely the city's most important thinker of modern times, and the single indispensable Italian philosopher since Vico's death. When a genius of Croce's interpretative prowess, evaluates the work of another, it is inevitable that an explosive mixture will result. A great virtue of this book is its fusion of Croce's unique brand of idealism and aesthetic philosophy with Vico's epistemological, ethical, and historical theories. If Vico's theory of cyclical changes in history, the corsi e ricorsi, remains fruitful, it might be argued that Croce's evaluation of his countryman' ideas represented the next turn of the philosophical wheel toward enlightenment.

This book discusses that imagination is as important to thinking and reasoning as it is to making and acting. By reexamining our philosophical and psychological heritage, it traces a framework, a conceptual topology, that underlies the most disparate theories: a framework that presents imagination as founded in the placement of appearances. It shows how this framework was progressively developed by thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, and Kant, and how it is reflected in more recent developments in theorists as different as Peirce, Saussure, Wittgenstein, Benjamin, and Bachelard. The conceptual topology of imagination incorporates logic, mathematics, and science as well as production, play, and art. Recognizing this topology can move us past the confusions to a unifying view of imagination for the future. ​

Obwohl es verbreitet für ein bloßes Nebenthema gehalten wird, spielt das Thema der Poesie doch eine wichtige Rolle in Kants Denken. Mit dem Ziel, geläufige Missverständnisse zu zerstreuen, versammelt der vorliegende Band Beiträge verschiedener Spezialisten zur Bestimmung des Orts und der Rolle der Poesie in Kants Denken. Es handelt sich um den Versuch einer Neubewertung der Wichtigkeit der Poesie für seine moralische, politische, anthropologische, philosophische und ästhetische Systematik.

The present essay grew out of an inte:rest in exploring the relationship be tween "imagination" and "reason" in the history of naturalistic thinking. The essay tries to show something of the spirit of naturalism coming to terms with the place of imagination and reason in knowing, making, and doing as activities of human experience. This spirit is discussed by taking as its point of departure the thinking of five writers: Plato, Aristotle, Giam battista Vieo, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Keats. Plato and Aristotle are considered as spokesmen of reason in a world which appeared to be dominated by non-reason. They found it essential for human beings to try to learn how to distinguish between the work of imagin ation and the work of reason. In trying to make such a distinction, it becomes clear that imagination has its legitimate place, along with reason, in human activity. Or we might say that determining the place which each has is a continuing problem when human beings take seriously what is involved in shaping mind and character.