Giambattista Vico (1668-1774)
The image is free only apart from the concept seen as supreme achievement of reason fully developed.
Paradoxically, without imagination, a view of the whole cannot be reached.
“In any case, it is Vico who with his conception of fantasia creates a novantiqua outside of the above mentioned disjoint between Geist and Leben and the ancient Platonic disjoint between idea and image. I suggest that Vico in the 21st century ought to be accorded a fair hearing on his own merits as a Herculean hero of philosophy. His message, just as Levinas’, is urgently needed for a reassessment of the cultural identity of Western civilization in general and of the European Union in particular.”
Ovi Magizine: Vico’s Poetic Philosophy within Europe’s Cultural Identity 2/2 by Dr. Emanuel Paparella
