Synopsis:
- There is a single history of humankind, due to the fact that there is a single God, a single Creation, etc
- The Fall determined the history of humankind
- The natural sciences cannot explain nature because nature was created by God, and after the Fall humans cannot understand God's mind
- One can only know one's creations
- We can know the creations of other humans by using our mind to simulate theirs, but we can never know the creations of God because we cannot simulate his mind
- Humans can only know history, culture, art and languages
- The study of human creations (humanities) relies on a method that is different from the study of divine creations (sciences)
- Languages are the supreme achievement of humans, a consequence of the Fall, as humans got dispersed on Earth
- Pattern ("corso e ricorso") of social development in every culture: from barbarism to civilization and then back to barbarism
- Age of the Gods: religion and family emerge from the barbaric state
- Age of Heroes: social order is created by a class rules the other classes
- Age of Men: the lower classes obtain equality, but cause society to disintegrate
- This pattern replicates the stages of personal development from child (emotions) to middle age (self-critical) to old age (chaos)
- The pattern endlessly replicate the pattern of fall, alienation and redemption
- Pattern of artistic development from poetry to prose
- Family is the institution that mediates between nature and culture
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