Per una scienza estetica della storia : riflessioni critiche sulla filosofia della storia in Giambattisa Vico e Theodor W. Adorno

The aim of this essay is to compare Giambattista Vico's original proposal of a ‘new' science and Adorno's philosophy of history. Starting from an analysis of their original aesthetic theories, the author highlights their distinctive approaches to the study of history and its implications. Both philosophers promote a specific kind of ‘aesthetic' rationality in order to safeguard the facticity and contingency of reality. The cognitive relevance of ‘imagination' and human ingenium is necessary to avoid the danger inherent in a unilateral explanation of human history, a risk that is not only epistemological but also involves the ethical and social dimension. [Publisher's text]