ABSTRACT
Despite the claims made for St Augustine as the ‘first philosopher of history’,1 with good reason most scholars agree that Giambattista Vico (1668-1744), from Naples, better deserves the title. This is because he was the first thinker to produce an overall ‘theory’ of the course and meaning of history derived from objective study and the conscious application of abstract principles. Unlike Augustine, Vico’s motivation was not primarily ideological. He was principally concerned to investigate ‘the truth’ about human history for its own sake, (although, as we will see, this did not preclude him from reaching prescriptive conclusions). In these respects we may compare Vico’s to Machiavelli’s ‘scientific’ thinking about history. But whereas Machiavelli was no philosopher, in the sense that he did not construe his ideas on history from abstract principles brought to light and defended, Vico’s project was explicitly ‘philosophical’. As he tells us in his Autobiography, he laboured for many years in comparative solitude to find the key to unlocking numerous problems in understanding the logic of the course of history – and it is clear he was open-minded enough to change his mind over certain issues on occasions.
