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June 23, 1668


Giambattista Vico, the Italian philosopher, was born on June 23, 1668. He may not have understood the extent to which the philosophy of history was a religious construct, but he knew he was engaging in an original work when he devised his view of the movement of history: Vico envisioned history moving in circles, but these circles change at each revolution so that the repetition is not precise. There is a totally unsubstantiated rumor the idea for these circles came to Vico after watching a cat play with a piece of string.

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