Vico's New Science of Ancient Signs

Jürgen Trabant reads the profound insights into human semiosis contained in Vico's 'sematology' as both a spirited rejection of Cartesian philosophy and an early critique of enlightened logocentricism. Sean Ward's translation makes this work available to an English-reading audience for the first time.

Jürgen Trabant is professor of French and Italian linguistics at the Free University Berlin. His main fields of research are the history of linguistics and language philosophy, semiotics, especially semiotics of literature and language politics. Sean Ward is a writer and translator. He lives in Arlington, Virginia and is co-editor, with Jürgen Trabant, of New Essays on the Origin of Language (2001).

Foreword by Donald Phillip Verene Translator's Preface References, Editions, Abbreviations, Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Mr Vico, Renato and Philology 2. Vico's Discovery: Poetic Characters 3. Gestures and Objects (sémata ), Words 4. The Common Mental Dictionary 5. Speaking by Writing (Derrida -- Rousseau) 6. Speaking by Singing (Herder) 7. Memoria-fantasia-ingegno 8. Vico and Humboldt on Imagination and Language Works Cited Index