This project aims to investigate the relation between history and barbarism in the work
Scienza Nuova (1744) by Giambattista Vico (1688 – 1744), with the purpose of
explaining the ethical and political orientation in the vichian proposal of a nuova
scienza, highlighting the criticism of the course of history and the risk of returning to
barbarism. For this project, the following interpretative hypothesis is adopted: the
barbarism is not exclusive to a particular historical period. According to Vico, the
manifestation of the barbarism had taken place in different times of the history of the
world of nations, in specific and differentiated forms: barbarism of the senses,
barbarism returned and barbarism of reflection. If the first form of barbarism makes
civilization possible, the latter destroys the social relations: hence its vichian ethical and
political concern. Vico follows the perspective of an eternal ideal history, that is, that of
the three ages: age of the gods, heroes, and men in which the history of the world of
nations has go through.