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  Divine Truth, W and Giambattista Vico

Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) was an Italian scholar, often labeled as the founder of modern history. Widely known as a mythic historical philosopher, Vico’s works were framed by his theory that all societies undergo cycles, each cycle consisting of three “Great Ages.” Daniel Boorstin, in his book “The Creators,” neatly summarizes the groupings:
Vico’s scheme of history described each community rising from the “bestial” and passing through three stages: the Age of Religion and the Gods, the Age of Heroes celebrated in poetry and ruled by custom, and the Age of the Peoples expressed in prose and ruled by laws. The last stage results in anarchy, and the return to relive the cycle (corso).
New Science, Vico’s most notable work, provides an illustration of his philosophy on the frontispiece. An illustration of God as the mason’s all-seeing eye looks down upon a statue of a woman representing earth and nature. Her breast reflects the beam onto Homer (the poet, not Simpson). The intention of the illustration is supposed to suggest how divine truth, nature and man’s knowledge are interconnected.

For those of you (eggheads and egghead acolytes) who still may believe the spin that George W. Bush is not very smart, you might want to consider Vico’s long-tested theories a moment, as well as W’s degree in History from Yale University. And I say long-tested because Vico is relatively well-known in academic circles and given my knowledge of history, I think I can safely apply Vicoism to several societies I’ve studied. The most illustrative is the Roman Empire.
  • Founded by a couple of mythical dudes, Romulus and Remus.
  • Borrowed mythological characters from Greeks, called them their own, made Paganism a national manifesto.
  • During the Republic, senators and military men gained prominence.
  • Rise of the Cæsars, start of the Empire.
  • The Iliad is required reading and the Cæsars are all over the currency.
  • Protocol, custom and honor rule the day.
  • Many cultures assimilate into the empire, making autonomous rule a hard thing.
  • Senators make laws to protect the people, but moreso, themselves.
  • The Empire falls apart from all of these cultures wanting a piece of the action.
  • In 424, Rome is sacked by the Visigoths. But the Visigoths adhere to a religion called Christianity. Many who are Christians in Rome are spared their lives. The leaders of Rome who remain nameless in the history books but declared themselves Christians seem to live a lot longer (note the switch to “Holy Roman Empire”).
I tested Vico’s theory on Greece, Macedonia, Byzantium, Egypt, England, Russia, Yugoslavia, France, Germany and a few other assorted societies, and it seems to hold up pretty well. But what about our own little empire, the United States of America?
  • Country was founded on religious freedom; persecuted religious adherents (Quakers, Hugenots, etc.) build a society in the New World.
  • The Enlightenment finds its way to the US, where religion spurs new learning.
  • In the late 18th century, political men and literary men gained prominence.
  • Notable men (and women) arise to assume power and the philosophical course for the new nation (Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, the Adams family).
  • We put their pictures on currency and their legacy is required reading.
  • Whitman, Hawthorne and Poe are world-reknowned poets and writers.
  • A clash of fundamental ideas from disparate societies fuels the Civil War.
  • Abraham Lincoln, in his “Gettysburg Address,” declares, “A government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
  • In the early 1900s, muckrakers help the little guy and Populism and Socialism spark interest in the 1920s.
  • In the 1960s, “Power to the People” becomes a significant catchphrase for all races. Civil disobedience becomes trendy.
  • In the 1980s, the US becomes what is known as “a litigious society.”
  • 1992-2002: O. J. Simpson, despite all the existing laws against 1st degree murder, is found not guilty in a court in Los Angeles; a verdict in the Rodney King case sparks riots in L.A.; a sitting president is impeached because of his lack of respect for the Constitution; motions begin in the US to ban the word “God” from the Pledge of Allegiance.
  • In 2000, a self-declared Christian is narrowly made president, voted in by a huge swathe of Heartland America and the Bible Belt.
Look at the Terri Schiavo case, the woman in Florida in a vegetative state whose husband declined her therapy all these years and wants her dead. The woman is not brain-dead. She is alive and alert. Her parents – the closest thing to immediate family she has – would like to keep her alive. Her estranged husband wants her dead, yet the courts side with her husband. The laws obviously don’t protect the people when this sort of thing can happen. What kind of Nazi society is this where a spouse can beat his wife into submission and the court says it’s okay for him to finish the job?

Think of the planes that were not allowed to take off in California, the planes carrying fire-extinguishing liquid that could’ve kept the San Diego fire at bay. Don’t people ever say, “Screw that law, I’m going to do what’s morally right?” in times of life-or-death desperation? Are we such sheep to our governments that we are afraid to move even when it means our neighbors are being burned up in a fiery hell? How many homes and lives could defiance and civil disobedience of the law saved in that case?

And what of the Lieutenant Colonel in Iraq who saved the lives of many of his servicemen? If the terrorists would use death and scare tactics and disdain for order and government to carry out their fantasy vision of society, how are we supposed to respond to that? Kill them with kindness? That may work in the long run, but when lives are at stake, what is required is fast-thinking by right-thinking individuals.

Now I’m not preaching anarchy here. If anything, I’m preaching morality. Bill Clinton obviously felt that the Constitution was an old worn-out document that had run its course and chose to believe his decisions to give the finger to the law were life-and-death ones. I often quip that the guy used the Bill of Rights as toilet paper, just as he used the Ten Commandments to wipe his nose. Clinton didn’t seem to understand, just as the Florida Supreme Court and a good portion of the state of California doesn’t seem to understand, that there is a higher power.

Darius, a gentle yet pliable king of the Old Testament, signed a law into effect that banned praying to God. Daniel, a close friend and advisor to Darius, got caught praying anyway and was dropped into the lion’s den for a night. The good Lord kept Daniel safe – he was not eaten by the hungry beasts. Darius tore up the very same law he signed when he realized that laws are men’s devices, and we all ultimately fall under the spell of God. If Vico’s historical theories on the Ages of society are to be respected, this society of ours needs a little more churchin' and a lot less regulatin'.