ABSTRACT
The most common interpretation of 'ricorsi' is that it illustrates a recurrence theory of history. 'Ricorsi' as the law of the circularity of spirit lacks authentic Vichian flavour and is without relevance to the discernible structure of Giambattista Vico's conception of historical movement. Vico's methodology is not, however, suspended in mid-air; it is his boast that his method rests upon elements of genuinely speculative force. It is, therefore, imperative to ask in virtue of what character of the historical process this methodological employment of 'ricorsi' is possible. 'Ricorsi' describes the path which history traverses between the pluralism of the life of the nations and the absolute ideal unity of universal history. The 'ricorsi' implies a return only in the sense that the powers possessed in idea where before possessed unreflectively. The time-form of the nation is advanced toward its own ideality, not by an abstract gesture of intellect, but by an ideal penetration of its own historical character and integrity.
