Explorations in Philosophy and Theology: Agamben and Vico

The basic aim of this paper is to discuss the thought of Giambattista Vico and Giorgio Agamben in relation to the development of western philosophy and science. The nearly three-century span of time bookending the eras of their writing encompasses not only broad changes in the intellectual and creative temperament of western thought across the periods of their active writing, but also the shifting nature of academic fields especially as this concerns the rise of the human and social sciences beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century. The place of theology within this field has been especially volatile as it was in ascendancy early on, subdued substantially with the advent of philosophical and sociological positivism, and more recently has reemerged as a vibrant force with the advent of numerous post-discourses, including of course the postsecular. In the end, speculation about what all this means acknowledges Herbert Spencer’s observation that there are two great regions of knowledge—the Known and the Unknown—and that whatever further progress is made in addressing the issues raised here will reflect this truth.