The publication of "Humanism and Democratic Criticism" in 2004 revealed the humanistic ideas in Said's critical career. The academic community has different evaluations of Said's humanistic ideas, with both positive and criticism. Most scholars have begun to affirm Said's humanistic ideas, and the academic community has given various names to Said's humanism. Said's humanistic thought is dynamic and closely related to Vico. There is currently no systematic research in the domestic academic community, while there are relevant achievements in the foreign academic community. Most studies only present Vico in Said's works, and Vico's ideas themselves are basically in a state of silence. This article aims to compare the views of Vico in Said's works with Vico's own, and reveal the intentions and methods of Said's humanistic thought in the tension between the two.

Vico's "Created" Epistemology and the "Secular" Core of Said Humanism

Said continued to pay attention to Vico throughout his academic career, delving into his philosophical ideas, particularly the concept of "creation". The core of Vico's epistemology lies in the belief that "truth is creation", emphasizing that human history and culture are artificially constructed, and that truth and creation are mutually transformed. Said drew inspiration from Vico's views and developed his own humanistic ideas, emphasizing artificiality, historicity, and secularism. In Orientalism, Said quotes Vico's viewpoint and points out that "East" and "West" are artificially constructed geographical regions. In 'The Beginning', Said distinguishes Vico's concept of 'beginning' from 'origin', believing that 'beginning' is secular, artificial, and constantly being re examined. In "World, Text, Critics," Said distinguishes between "secular criticism" and "religious criticism," emphasizing the connection between text and human life, politics, society, and events. In "Humanism and Democratic Criticism," Said applies Vico's concept of "creation" to humanistic discourse, distinguishing between Western traditional humanism and ideal, globalist humanism. Said's humanism is linked to democratic criticism, emphasizing the responsibility of intellectuals and the practicality of humanism.

Vico's "poetic" style and Said's humanistic practice in Chinese language studies

Scarsio categorized the Vico elements in Said's humanistic thought into four key words: secularism, authenticity, physicality, and poeticity. Among them, secularism and authenticity focus on the intrinsic meaning of humanism, while physicality and poeticity focus on its external style and critical practice. Said is particularly interested in the physicality and poetic nature of Vico's philosophical thought, believing that Vico's poetic wisdom is a primitive wisdom that emphasizes imagination and creation, and is the origin of various skills and sciences. Poetic metaphysics creates strong emotional expressions and sublime poetic phrases. Vico's poetry has a dual nature of imagery and creativity, shaping the non systematic style of his works while integrating knowledge materials with humanity and grand meanings. Said analyzed the poetic principles in "The New Science" in "Vico's Discourse on the Discipline of the Body and Text," arguing that Vico's structure is related to his insight into the "body," emphasizing the body as a source of knowledge. Vico's style conveys the loss of directness, with lengthy descriptive language attempting to regain the bodily directness of poetic thought. Vico's method of contradiction criticism embodies the critical significance of his humanity, and poetry not only creates contradictions, but also becomes a way to solve them. The fundamental reason for the contradiction lies in the mismatch between Vico's metaphysical stance and epistemology. Vico redefined the meaning of "principle" in "New Science", emphasizing the combination of philosophy and linguistics. Under the influence of Vico, Said believed that the study of Chinese language was extremely important for humanistic knowledge, emphasizing that close reading should reveal the complete context and form a way to resist humanism. Said's humanism is positioned as action with practical significance, aimed at resisting the pressure of orthodox ideas, distinguishing between text and the real environment, and reading, interpreting, and disseminating text in the interactive influence of the two.

The metaphysical dimension of humanism: Vico's "divine will" and Said's "salvation"

Said's inheritance of Vico is mainly reflected in epistemology and methodology, but Vico's ideas go beyond anti modern theological intentions, and his modern methodology breaks through the theological framework, influencing Said. Said paid more attention to the meaning of humanism when facing death, and his critical style became more straightforward. When elaborating on the epistemology of "truth is creation", Vico distinguished between the creation of God and humans, emphasizing that creation belongs to humanity, but God's creation is always higher than human creation. Vico's' divine will 'is the principle of arranging human society, while the historical evolution depicted in' New Science 'is arranged by the will of God. Said may not agree with Vico's starting point, but he faces a similar situation in postmodern society, insisting on the responsibility of intellectuals and being wary of hollow ideals used for governance.