Italian philosopher, rhetorician, historian, & jurist Giambattista Vico was born #OTD in 1668.
The Latin aphorism Verum esse ipsum factum ("Ciò che è vero è precisamente ciò che è fatto") coined by Vico represented an early example of constructivist epistemology. It inaugurated the modern field of the philosophy of history, & although that term does not appear in his writings, Vico spoke of a "history of philosophy told philosophically."