Vico’s theory of myth anticipated the Marxist theory of ideology.
Evidence
This was not the case, however, with the figure Horkheimer had chosen to end his study of early modern philosophies of history: Giambattista Vico. Vico’s attack on Cartesian metaphysics and the growing idolatry of mathematics set him apart from his contemporaries. So too did his insight that man could know history better than the natural world because man was history’s maker. Vico had also transcended the limitations of the Enlightenment interpretation of the origins of myths, which he saw less as priestly tricks than as the projection of human needs onto nature. In so arguing, Vico had anticipated the later Marxist view of ideology. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 777
Categorization
- SEED: Angle for an essay: the genealogy of ‘ideology critique’ passing through Vico’s projection theory of myth before reaching Marx.
- XREF: connects to: Marx’s own theory anticipated its eventual negation as historical ideology; Marxist theory has itself ossified into the popular prejudice it critiqued — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1407; Marx’s materialist ideology theory built on Feuerbach but added revolutionary practice. (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Marx’s own theory anticipated its eventual negation as historical ideology
#complicates(0.80) - Marx’s materialist ideology theory built on Feuerbach but added revolutionary practice.
#expands(0.80) - Marxist theory has itself ossified into the popular prejudice it critiqued
#exemplifies(0.75) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1407 - Comparing the German Ideology with Capital shows how Marx specified historicity further.
#qualifies(0.72)