The theories of language and society of Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) are examined in this textual analysis of the full range of his theoretical writings, with special emphasis on his little-known early works. Vico's fundamental importance in the history of European ideas lies in his strong anti-Cartesian, anti-French and anti-Enlightenment views. In an age in which intellectuals adopted a rational approach, Vico stressed the nonrational element in man - in particular, imagination - as well as social and civil relationships, none of them reducible to the scientific theories so popular in his time.

Acknowledgements - Note on the Texts - Select List of Vico's Writings and List of Abbreviations - Introduction - Vico's Intellectual Development - Vico's Early Writings, 1709-28 - La Scienza Nuova, 1725, 1730, 1744 - Language, Historical Reconstruction and the Development of Society - Imagination and Historical Knowledge - Conclusion - Notes - Bibliography - Index