Dr Rico Isaacs recently published Vico and Populism: the barbarism of reflection in Protosociology, the essay brings Italian political philosopher Giambattista Vico’s thought to bear on the issue of contemporary populism. The article argues that Contemporary populism can be reflected in Vico’s cyclical philosophy of the three ages of civilization: the divine, heroic, and human ages (corso e ricorso). Contemporary populism represents a return to the barbarism of the heroic age through the descent into individualism and private interest, the return of divinely ordained rulers and the recourse to myth, violence, and morality.
