Historical History Implications of Vico’s Notion of Truth

hermeneutics
 the task of the human mind is not to think
What is Time? about being in the abstract, but being as we
have made it. History is a fundamental
 Cosmological Time- successive local prerequisite for the study of any discipline.
movement.
-number or measure mathematics, the only true science.

Number = November 24 ,2005 *Truths are made

Measure = One hour

 Psychological time – span of duration -->

Conscious object
Emphasis on conscious subject who
experiences time as synthesis of Past,
present and future.
History
- Is not just about dates, person or happening
- It’s about human experiences that are
remembered, represented, and
reconstructed by our memory.
 “So far philosophers have merely
interpreted the world in various ways; it is
now time to change it”- Karl Marx (1818-
1883)
 Factum- what we made
Faciendum- What we can make
Truth must impel us to act in order to
create a better world. (Karl marx)

 Giambattista Vico (1668-1744): Memory

Objectivity in History
When it Function as
Objectivity originated with supposition—the
Remember or recalls > Data Storage mind is imitative, that it copies objects
outside.
Represent/ > imagination/
makes present fantasy Verum est adequatio rei ad intellectum

It revises > Creative faculty/ TRUTH IS THE EXACT CORRESPONDENCE

Reconstructs Ingenuity BETWEEN THE MIND AND REALITY.

Vico - FIRST TO FORMULATE A COMPLETELY Objectivity in history cannot be thought of

NEW IDEA OF TRUTH AND KNOWLEDGE
-his book: Scienza Nuova
(1725/1730/1744/1928)- developed the
notion of truth
“VERUM ET FACTUM CONVERTUNTUR”
Truth and Fact are convertible.
Truth is what we ourselves have made.
in this way because of the following
reasons:
1. The past is gone, never to be repeated.
2. Although history requires the
conscientious regard for the critical
method and standards of history as a
discipline, it always implies value
judgment or creative reconstruction.
You cannot totally exclude value and judgements
and creativity because history requires empathy
and sympathy.
Objectivity of History:
a) the historian’s heightened sense of his
tendency to be biased or mistaken
b) a reasonable suspicion that bias, distortion,
or error may be present in every historical
document or narrative that he studies.
Causality in History
-consequence follows
-cause and effect
In such narratives, causality is seen as the interplay
of freedom and necessity; of chance and conscious
determination; the human and divine factor.
 Herodotus (484-425 B.C)
Events in history are caused by men
because of Hubris (Pride) (Man vs man vs
Gods)
 Thucydides (456-396 B.C)
-he wrote the history of Peloponnesian
wars.
-History is conflicts of interest. (kung sinong
malakas siyang masusunod)
-Might is right
 Polybius (201-120 B.C)
-Wrote the first history of Rome
-personal and impersonal causes
-he demonstrated how the destinies of
various nation are interwoven.
 Sallust (86- 34 B.C)
-Roman historians and politicians
-for them, History follows natural cycle
-Fate, being the main cause of Historical
events.
Salvation History
- History is God’s Initiative to enter into a
covenant.
 St. Augustine – added a personalistic and
subjective element in his understanding of
history. Historical events across the world
-all history is biography.
Renaissance, Humanism and enlightenment
changed the view of history.
Reason and Progress have taken the place of
Providence.
Secularism
-self explanatory
-without recourse to transcendent values or being
Consumerism
-buy and sell
Adverse consequences:
a)throw-away mentality
b) our monumental garbage problem,
c) our tendency to discard traditional norms,
lifestyles, stable relationships and attachments.
d) trivialization of values
Karl Marx
- History is the process by which human
freedom leads to self and social
consciousness.
Causality in History
- it is more appropriate to say that, in history, there
is causal pluralism.
The logic of Historical thought
- Not for mal logic
- Consists neither in inductive reasoning from
particular to the general nor in deductive
reasoning.
- The logic of historical Thought

 Deduction- must be the cause why
something happened.
 Induction- actually is the cause why
something happened
 Adduction- most likely
History
- Problem-solving discipline
- asks an open-minded question about past
events and answers with selected facts
which are constructed in the form of an
hermeneutical paradigm.
 Hermeneutics
-Epuns- the inventor of
language/messenger of the Gods
-Hermes- thief
-Pan-the son of Hermes, goat-like creature
Peri Hermeneias by Aristotle
 Language- can be oral, written, visual etc.
-has various meanings
-reveals and conceals at the same time
-indispensable to communication.
 Polysemy- words can have various meaning
when considered outside of their use in
determined context.
 Hermeneutics:
-hermeneia -noun :bringing the unclear to
clarity.
-Hermeneuein- verb: to interpret or clarify
Hermeneutics- The process of bringing
something from unintelligibility to
understanding.
Understanding – a uniquely human activity
that deals primarily not with information
but with elusive category called meaning
Meaning means:
- Relevant: related to ultimate concerns
- Valuable: worth
- Appropriable: I can own it.
THE HERMENEUTIC CIRCLE
THE PROCESS OF UNDERSTANDING IS NOT LINEAR
BUT CIRCULAR AND SPIRAL.
OPERATES IN DIFFERENT LEVELS:
 TEXT: a text is understood in relation to its
context;
 AUTHOR: an author is understood in
relation to his life and times
 READER: his way of understanding must be
situated within the context of the
community
UNDERSTANDING
UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT
UNDERSTANDING THE AUTHOR
SELF-UNDERSTANDING
Hermeneia as translation translatio – (latin)
movement from one place to another (infinitive:
transferre) - the movement of meaning from one
cultural or temporal context to another. Hermeneia
- bringing an obscure, foreign language into the
clarity of a known or familiar language
HERMENEUTICAL PARADIGM n
CAUSAL MODEL
A NARRATIVE
STATISTICAL GENERALIZATION
AN ANALOGICAL MODEL
PREDICTIVE MODEL
A COMBINATION OF THE ABOVE