Vico and Herder: Two Studies in the History of Ideas

by Isaiah Berlin

Book Overview

"Vico and Herder" was widely acclaimed when it was first published in1976. In the first section Isaiah Berlin studies the philosophical ideas of Giovanni Battista Vico (1668-1744), a profound and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394722507
• ISBN13: 9780394722504
• Release Date: January 1977
• Publisher: Vintage Books USA
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

very scholarly

Vico died in Italy in 1744, the year Herder was born. Both might seem like minor figures in philosophy, but Isaiah Berlin finds some key points in the pluralism with which we attempt to appreciate diversity in a global situation which were new for Vico and Herder when they wrote about a variety of civilizations. Populism is not clearly explained in the description of Herder's contributions, but it seems to be related to the ability of people within one society to adhere to values that do not appeal to others living in different climates or within a different religious context. Symbols and vocabulary are keys to forms of communication that can only be meaningful within particular situations. The simplistic formulas that show up in political science now seem trite to me compared to the kind of observations which Isaiah Berlin would like to see regarding how societies function. 2008 might be a poor perspective for correlating ideas with current movements in power and stupidity, but attempting to understand how thinkers wanted to settle upon a future when thinkers seemed to matter, at least to people like Isaiah Berlin, is a great intellectual exercise.