Vico's Poetic Wisdom

The proposal of Vico's philosophical principle aimed at the rationalists at that time. Inheriting the philosophical tradition of the old Greek, the rationalists established science in order to achieve the concept of"clarity"and logic deduction, which is far from satisfaction for the requirement of science in Vico's opinion. He thought the real science must be established on the basis of thoroughly understanding like the God having a good knowledge of everything. To achieve this aim, science must be created, for God knows everything because they are created by him. This is the scientific concept of Vico's"the truth is the made". If we examine the rationalism represented by Descartes by this perspective of truth, we can see logic deduction based on pure"thought"is only a formal rule and does not create knowledge. So Vico thought strictly speaking, rationalism which advertised scientific form was not science, and the real science can be achieved in God'way of from nothing to something. Aiming at this situation, he proposed the principles of"new science". And the"new science"is a knowledge system established according to the standard of his"the truth is the made".In what field can achieve the conception of truth in a manner of God creating the world? Everything in universe is created by God, and of course he knows them. However, human don't have this ability. It is seen that Vico's philosophy is based on human and he focused that what the human can recognize. Vico thought only in humanity and history can we achieve this creation. Natural world is not created by human, because this material thing can't be provided by human. In history, the activity of creation itself constitutes the regularity of history, so human can achieve the real science in this field. Thus, Vico limited the scope of his"new science"---- in humanity and history. In history, It is Vico's poetic wisdom that is established according to the standard of"the truth is the made". So poetic wisdom is the concrete form of Vico's"new science"and this is also the main point that is discussed in this dissertation.The process of creation is the process of seeking definiteness in history. Only based on this definiteness can display the scientific requirements in history. So the discussion of poetic wisdom begins with the discussion of metaphysics. However if metaphysics is obliged to be established, it must rely on the platform of language. Language is the way of saying the entities of metaphysics out. In this way, language and metaphysics constitute the universality in a whole sense based on reason and contemplation, as Vico said. But the significance of wisdom is not only in reason and metaphysics but also in function. This guiding significance is its legislative function to will and practical activities. Its concrete reflection is the implementation of God's order in history. Here it is seen that though Vico's starting point is history, yet he is not historism. He sought the universal rules in history by which founded history.According to the above comprehension, it is divided 4 parts to discuss Vico's thought of poetic wisdom. In first part, it is mainly to discuss the origin of poetic wisdom with the purpose that examine how Vico proposed his own conception of truth based on the dialogue and criticism with rationalism represented by Descartes and how to extend his own principle of"new science"on this basis of this conception of truth. In this part, it is to point the logic deduction based on the clarity of Descartes'"thought"is only the formal view of knowledge and not the real structure of knowledge. By criticizing the Descartes, it is to propose Vico's standard of truth. This standard is"the truth is the made". The"new science"based on this standard is Vico's poetic wisdom. This part is to explain what is poetic wisdom based on Vico's text. In light with his comprehension, intelligence can be defined from human's reason and will. The level of reason is the poetic metaphysics based on the knowledge form. The level of will is the concrete implementation of God's will in practice and history. So the poetic wisdom is a body and a system in which establish common rules in poetic dimensions and through this rule founds history. Then we go into the second part.In second part, it is to discuss the intelligence form based on knowledge form---- poetic metaphysics. According to Vico's standard of truth, we discuss the establishment process of metaphysics from the level of soul display and historical experience occurrence. From soul display, the process of creation is the process of establishing common rules through human's psychological mechanism. The concept of God is the concrete demonstration of this common rule. From the historical experience occurrence, it displays how a primitive titan establish religious and divine system. Here the historical occurrence corresponds with soul display and this reflects the principle of unification of logics and history. Thought originates in this field, but language gives this field concrete form. It gives a reasonable form of realization of establishment in history. So the establishment of metaphysics must be with the help of poetic logic based on language.In third part, it is to discuss the significance of language in the establishment of metaphysics. Language is a body. Its regulative meaning and form rules are inherently unified. But logical argument extracts the regulative form in language to define and this makes language a dead logic form. Subsequently, we reexamine the structuring process of poetic metaphysics based on original language. The examination reflects every step of producing knowledge is enlightened by language. Otherwise, it lacks reliable basis. The initial performance of original language is myth. It reflects the definiteness and truth in a metaphor way. With the development of knowledge creation process, language cultivates human's common sense and conception. Argument is an access to the methodology of the establishment of common sense. Human safeguard this ideal thing in the real speech and argument. It can cultivate our soul, enlighten us, foster human's poetic regulation and make poetic metaphysics deeply rooted in the earth. Natural language is the formal basis that we comprehend metaphysics in practical life. Through this way, the poetic metaphysics is truly established. Then what we should focus is the function of legislation and foundation of this metaphysics in history. This is also the regulative function of poetic intelligence to human's will.So, the fourth part is to specially discuss the functional and practical significance of poetic metaphysics established in the manner of reason. It reflects the implementation of the concept of God in history. As Vico said human are guided to kindness through divine system. It displayed from 2 aspects—cultivation of human's heart and establishment of human's system and the significance of national physics and natural environment. Vico makes a distinction of two ways--- humanity and physics. The guiding performance to humanity and human's heart is to establish the human's system gradually through human's afraid to God's will and make human cultivated. The physical guidance is based on humanity. It is an extension of physics, geography and chronology from human's existence and cultivation. These two ways are both rooted in poetic. The process of implementation fully demonstrates Vico comprehends poetic intelligence as a scientific system. This systematic comprehension towards intelligence corresponds with ancient philosophy in intrinsic spirit.