Idola fori and language: Francis Bacon as a source for Giambattista Vico

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, it is argued that Giambattista Vico’s own interest in language, intellectual prejudices, parabolic poetry, the interpretation of ancient fables, and even his notion of verum-factum derived from the works of Francis Bacon, and that Vico explicitly acknowledged his debt to the English philosopher. Not only did Vico carefully read Bacon’s works, but he cited them in his own writings, and in greater detail and at greater length than has hitherto been acknowledged. In the Appendix, I provide the texts of all the explicit Baconian citations that appear in Vico’s works (in the original Latin or Italian), and these alone suffice to prove the extent to which he was familiar with Bacon’s works. As well as the Novum organum, there are indirect references to the De dignitate et augmentis scientiarum, the De sapientia veterum, and the Cogitata et visa. The aim of the textual comparison is to identify explicit references to Bacon and his works in Vico, appearing as either direct or indirect citations.