ABSTRACT
Giambattista Vico's (1968) New Science is important for introducing us, as we shall see, to worlds of meaning, to living worlds in which people come to share distinctive anticipations as to each other's future actions in otherwise indeterminate, fluid, not-yet-finalized circumstances, thus to coordinate their activities with each other. The communication occurring between individuals in this way may be very imprecise; conversations may be carried out in gestures without being articulated into articulate speech; but such gestures are not wholly without a distinctive character; indeed, they may function as the inarticulate 'standards' against which a more explicit formulation of their nature can be judged as to whether it is an adequate characterization or not. Situating himself like this, not in a world of objects, but in a world of meanings, clearly involved Vico in a great deal of arduous, imaginative work in preparing himself for his inquiries.
