"Vico and Moral Perception" maintains that Vico's "New Science" offers an idiosyncratic theory of ethics that rejects the modernist notion of -principle- but which at the same time promotes an -historical absolutism- that post-modern thought denies. Vico's account of civic metaphor not only responds effectively to questions of moral agency but provides a unique cultural and rhetorical framework for studying the "contexts of attention," the entry points of conscience, that anchor moral perception. In this respect, Vico not only provides a (...) metaphysic of culture but offers singular instruction in the art of wise living.". (shrink)