Quote by Giambattista Vico: “The true is precisely what has been made.”

Vico's principle of 'verum ipsum factum' asserts that humans can only truly understand what they themselves have created. We comprehend history and society because we are their makers, contrasting with natural science. This highlights human cognitive limits.

Vico, an Italian philosopher, challenged the Cartesian emphasis on mathematical certainty. His New Science proposed a unique epistemology where human knowledge is based on human creation, impacting later social sciences and theories of history.

Italian philosopher born in Naples in 1668, whose New Science proposed a cyclical theory of history organized around recurring stages of human cultural development. Largely ignored in his own lifetime, he was rediscovered in the 19th century and recognized as a forerunner of anthropology, sociology, and the philosophy of history. His ideas influenced Hegel, Marx, and James Joyce.