DERECHO PENAL CLASICOS
1. César Bonessana, Marqués de Beccaría (1738-1784)
5 . ibid.. 2. Criterial attributes such as tool-making were not considered by Vico and even if he had pondered such technological aspects it is reasonable to argue that he would have rejected them on the grounds that they were of too little ’human’ import. It is interesting to note that Christopher Hawkes when making his four-fold division of inference from artefactual material argues for increasing ’human’ import as one moves from the technological to the social and religious or spiritual levels. See ’Archaeological Theory and Method: Some Suggestions from the old World’, American Anthropologist.
56, 1954* P*162.
Gordon Childe is a further example of a prehistorian who thought the ’human’ element important and substituted an economic (Hawkes’ second level) for a technological interpretation of the Three Age System so that the human aspect would be more apparent. See ’Changing Methods and Aims in Prehistory’, P.P.S..be d e s ig n a te d a man, how ever, a c r e a t u r e had n o t o n ly to l i v e in a s o c i e t y ; i t had to l i v e in a human s o c i e t y .
I t fo llo w e d t h a t th e im m ediate problem f a c in g Vico was n o t th e c l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f i n d i v i d u a l s b u t s o c i e t i e s . When was a s o c ie ty human? I t was human, a s s e r t e d V ico , when i t ev id en ced th e p r a c t i c e s o f r e l i g i o n , m a rria g e and b u r i a l :
We o b se rv e t h a t a l l n a t i o n s , b a rb a ro u s a s w e ll a s c i v i l i z e d . . . keep th e s e t h r e e human custom s: a l l have some r e l i g i o n , a l l c o n t r a c t solemn m a r r ia g e s , a l l b u ry t h e i r d ead . And in no n a t i o n , however savage and c ru d e , axe any human a c t i v i t i e s c e l e b r a te d w ith more e la b o r a te c e r e m onies and more s a c re d so le m n ity th a n r e l i g i o n , m a rria g e and b u r i a l . . . i t must have been d i c t a t e d to a l l n a t i o n s t h a t from th e s e th r e e in s t i t u t i o n s hum anity began among them a l l , and t h e r e f o r e th e y must be most d e v o u tly o b serv ed by them a l l , so t h a t th e w o rld sh o u ld n o t a g a in become a b e s t i a l w ild e r n e s s . 6
Vico a rg u e d t h a t i t was th e s e t h r e e custom s which o c c a s io n e d th e e m an c ip a tio n o f
7
man from th e ty ra n n y o f h i s b o d ily u r g e s . R e lig io n , th e f i r s t o f th e s e custom s 8
t o em erge, marked th e b i r t h o f th e human m ind, th e f i r s t human th o u g h t, and so
9
i n s t i g a t e d th e b e g in n in g s o f human l i b e r t y and dev elo p m en t.
V ic o ’ s c r i t e r i a f o r a human s o c ie ty a r e n o t q u i t e a s a r b i t r a r y n o r a s c i r c u l - 10
a r a s Donagan would s u g g e s t. He invoked e m p ir ic a l fo u n d a tio n s f o r h i s c r i t e r i a l a t t r i b u t e s by c i t i n g in t h e i r s u p p o rt exam ples from in d iv id u a l h i s t o r i c a l commun-
11
i t i e s . One may i n d i c t Vico f o r i n v a l i d l y i n f e r r i n g to th e g e n e r a l from to o sm all a sample o f p a r t i c u l a r s b u t n o t f o r c i r c u l a r i t y o r a r b i t r a r i n e s s . B oth h i s a w are n e ss and h i s tr e a tm e n t o f e m p ir ic a l d a t a were c l e a r l y m a n ife s t when c o n c r e te exam ples seemed to m i l i t a t e a g a i n s t h i s p r o p o s a ls :
L e t n o t o u r f i r s t p r i n c i p l e be a cc u sed o f fa ls e h o o d by th e modern t r a v e l e r s who n a r r a t e t h a t p e o p le s o f B r a z i l , South A f r ic a and o th e r n a t i o n s o f th e new w o rld l i v e in s o c ie ty w ith o u t any knowledge o f
God . . . These a r e t r a v e l e r s * t a l e s , to promote th e s a le o f t h e i r b o o k s . . . 12
6 . The New S c ie n c e . 333»
7 . i b i d . . 1098.
8 . i b i d . . 447* See a ls o S . G iedion, The E tern a l P resen t: The B egin n in gs o f A rt. New York, 19^2, p .8 3 .
9 . The New S c ie n c e . 1098. V ico c o n s id e re d l i b e r t y a p ro d u c t o f th e s p i r i t ( th o u g h t ;, n o t o f m a tte r ^ p a s s io n ;.
10. A lan & B a rb a ra Donagan, P h ilo so p h y o f H i s t o r y . New York, 1965, P*8»
11 . The New S c ie n c e . 337«
I t i s a ls o o f i n t e r e s t t h a t he p ro p o sed e ty m o lo g ic a l argum ents to su p p o rt h i s h y p o th e s is :
In d e e d h u m an itas i n L a tin comes f i r s t and p r o p e rly from humando. *'burying**. 13
The Age o f th e G ia n ts
The c r i t e r i a o f hum anity h a v in g been e s t a b l i s h e d , Vico tu rn e d h i s a t t e n t i o n to two v e x in g q u e s ti o n s : whence came th e c r e a t u r e s who were to become human; how d id t h i s h u m an isin g p ro c e s s ^ h i s t o r y ; b e g in ? To answ er th e fo rm er Vico invoked
14
th e b i b l i c a l a c c o u n t; th e l a t t e r he e x p la in e d by means o f n a t u r a l phenomena.
The V ic h ia n h i s t o r y was s e t w ith in th e framework o f th e ch ro n o lo g y e l a b o r a t - 15
ed by A rchbishop U ss h e r. S in ce Vico was o n ly co n cern ed w ith G e n tile ^ non-Hebrew) h i s t o r y h i s a c c o u n t h a s th e d elu g e a s i t s low er c h r o n o lo g ic a l l i m i t . He was n o t i n t e r e s t e d in th e 'a b s o l u t e ' o r i g i n s o f man b u t sim ply i n G e n tile o r i g i n s . The p r e d ilu v ia n had no p a r t i n h i s t h e o r i e s e x c e p t i n s o f a r a s he u se d i t t o e x p la in
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th e e x is te n c e o f th e c u l t u r e l e s s c r e a t u r e s w ith w hich h i s t o r y began.
Vico a rg u e d t h a t b e fo re human h i s t o r y b e g an , g i a n t s ^ s e m i - b e s t i a l , sem i human c r e a t u r e s ; roamed th e e a r t h . The huge s t a t u r e o f th e s e c r e a t u r e s was
17 18
su g g e ste d by t h e i r p h y s ic a l re m a in s, t h e i r a r t e f a c t s , and a l s o by e th n o g ra p h ic 19
p a r a l l e l s . They w ere, he s p e c u la te d , th e end p ro d u c t o f a p ro c e s s o f d e g e n e ra t io n t h a t was c o n co m itan t w ith th e p e r io d o f f e r a l w an d erin g w hich fo llo w e d th e d e lu g e :
13. i b i d . . 12.
14. I t h a s been a rg u e d t h a t V ic o ’ s r e c o u r s e t o G en esis was sim ply p o l i t i c . G rim ald i a rg u e s t h a t , in r e a l i t y , Vico c o n s id e re d t h a t man had a c o n t i n u i t y w ith th e
'lo w e r ' a n im a ls . See The U n iv e rs a l Humanity o f G ia m b a ttis ta V ico. New Y ork, 1958, p .14 6.
15. A rch b ish o p U ssher was an Ir is h m a n . In 1636 he com puted, u s in g th e b i b l e , t h a t th e w o rld had been c r e a t e d in 4OO4 B .C . T h is b e l i e f p e r s i s t e d w e ll in to th e n in e te e n th c e n tu r y . See G eo ffrey B ib b y , The Testim ony o f th e Spade. London,
1968, p .1 9.
16. F o r d is c u s s io n o f t h i s a s p e c t see Thomas B e r ry , The H i s t o r i c a l Theory o f G ia m b a ttis ta V ic o . W ashington, 1949» P»117•
17. The New S c ie n c e . 529*
18. i b i d . . 372. V ico c i t e s S u e to n iu s who r e p o r t s t h a t A ugustus k e p t v e ry la r g e weapons in h i s museum. See The Twelve C a e s a r s . Harmondsworth, 1962, p .9 2 . 19# The New S c ie n c e . 170.
The fo u n d e rs o f g e n t i l e hum anity must have been men o f th e r a c e s o f Ham, Ja p h e th and Shera, which g r a d u a lly , one a f t e r th e o th e r , r e nounced t h a t t r u e r e l i g i o n o f t h e i r common f a t h e r Noah which a lo n e
in th e fa m ily s t a t e had been a b le to h o ld them in human s o c ie ty by th e bonds o f matrimony and hence o f th e f a m i l i e s th e m s e lv e s . As a r e s u l t o f t h i s r e n u n c ia ti o n , th e y d is s o lv e d t h e i r m a rria g e s and broke up t h e i r f a m i l i e s by prom iscuous i n t e r c o u r s e , and began r o v in g w ild th ro u g h th e g r e a t f o r e s t o f th e e a r t h , , . By f l e e i n g from th e w ild b e a s t s w ith which th e g r e a t f o r e s t must have abounded, and by p u rs u in g women, who i n t h a t s t a t e must have been w ild , in d o c i l e and sh y , th e y became s e p a ra te d from each o th e r i n t h e i r s e a rc h f o r food and w a te r . M others abandoned t h e i r c h i l d r e n , who in tim e must have come to grow