Benedetto Croce
Benedetto Croce Victor Emmanuel III | |
---|---|
Personal details | |
Born | Pescasseroli, Italy | 25 February 1866
Died | 20 November 1952 Naples, Italy | (aged 86)
Political party | Italian Liberal Party (1922–1952) |
Spouse |
Adele Rossi
(m. 1914; died 1952) |
Domestic partner |
Angelina Zampanelli
(m. 1893; died 1913) |
Children | Elena, Alda, Silvia, Lidia |
20th-century philosophy | |
Region | Western philosophy |
Aesthetic expressivism | |
Benedetto Croce, KOCI, COSML (Italian: [beneˈdetto ˈkroːtʃe]; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952)[3] was an Italian
He had a long career in the Italian Parliament, joining the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy in 1910, serving through Fascism and the Second World War before being elected to the Constituent Assembly as a Liberal. In the 1948 general election he was elected to the new republican Senate and served there until his death. He was a longtime member of the centre-right Italian Liberal Party, serving as its president from 1944 to 1947.
Croce was the president of the worldwide writers' association PEN International from 1949 until 1952. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 16 times.[8] He is also noted for his "major contributions to the rebirth of Italian democracy".[9] He was an elected International Member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.[10][11]
Biography
Croce was born in
In 1883, an
).He studied law, but never graduated, at the
Influenced by Neapolitan-born
Political involvement
As his fame increased, Croce was persuaded, against his initial wishes,[verification needed] to become involved in politics. In 1910, he was appointed to the Italian Senate, a lifelong position (Ryn, 2000:xi).[12] He was an open critic of Italy's participation in World War I, feeling that it was a suicidal trade war. Although this made him initially unpopular, his reputation was restored after the war. In 1919, he supported the government of Francesco Saverio Nitti while also expressing his admiration for the nascent Weimar Republic and the Social Democratic Party of Germany.[14] He was Minister of Public Education between 1920 and 1921 for the 5th and last government headed by Giovanni Giolitti. Benito Mussolini assumed power slightly more than a year after Croce's exit from the government; Mussolini's first Minister of Public Education was Giovanni Gentile, an independent who later became a fascist and with whom Croce had earlier cooperated in a philosophical polemic against positivism. Gentile remained minister for only a year but managed to begin a comprehensive reform of Italian education that was based partly on Croce's earlier suggestions. Gentile's reform remained in force well beyond the Fascist regime, and was only partly abolished in 1962.
Croce was instrumental in the relocation of the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III to the Royal Palace of Naples in 1923.
Relations with Italian fascism
Croce initially supported Mussolini's
In 1928, Croce voted against the law which effectively abolished free elections in Italy by requiring electors to vote for a list of candidates approved by the Grand Council of Fascism.
Croce was seriously threatened by Mussolini's regime, and suffered the only act of physical violence at the hands of the fascists in November 1926, when fascists ransacked his home and library in Naples.[18] Although he managed to stay outside prison thanks to his reputation, he remained subject to surveillance, and his academic work was kept in obscurity by the government, to the extent that no mainstream newspaper or academic publication ever referred to him. Croce later coined the term onagrocrazia (literally "government by asses") to emphasize the anti-intellectual and boorish tendencies of parts of the Fascist regime.[19] However, in describing Fascism as anti-intellectual Croce ignored the many Italian intellectuals who at the time actively supported Mussolini's regime, including Croce's former friend and colleague, Gentile. Croce also described Fascism as malattia morale (literally "moral illness"). When Mussolini's government adopted antisemitic policies in 1938, Croce was the only non-Jewish intellectual who refused to complete a government questionnaire designed to collect information on the so-called "racial background" of Italian intellectuals.[20][21][22][23] Besides writing in his periodical, Croce used other means to express his anti-racism and to make public statements against the persecution of the Jews.[24]
Brief government stints and constitutional referendum
In 1944, when democracy was restored in Southern Italy, Croce, as an "icon of
Croce voted for the Monarchy in the
Philosophical works
Croce's most interesting philosophical ideas are expounded in three works: Aesthetic (1902), Logic (1908), and Philosophy of the Practical (1908), but his complete work is spread over 80 books and 40 years worth of publications in his own bi-monthly literary magazine, La Critica (Ryn, 2000:xi
Philosophy of spirit
Heavily influenced by
Domains of mind
Croce's methodological approach to philosophy is expressed in his divisions of the spirit, or mind. He divides mental activity first into the theoretical, and then the practical. The theoretical division splits between aesthetics and logic. This theoretical aesthetic includes most importantly: intuitions and history. The logical includes concepts and relations. Practical spirit is concerned with economics and ethics. Economics is here to be understood as an exhaustive term for all utilitarian matters.
Each of these divisions has an underlying structure that colours, or dictates, the sort of thinking that goes on within them. While aesthetics are driven by beauty, logic is subject to truth, economics is concerned with what is useful, and the moral, or ethics, is bound to the good. This schema is descriptive in that it attempts to elucidate the logic of human thought; however, it is prescriptive as well, in that these ideas form the basis for epistemological claims and confidence.
History
Croce also had great esteem for Vico, and shared his opinion that history should be written by philosophers. Croce's On History sets forth the view of history as "philosophy in motion", that there is no "cosmic design" or ultimate plan in history, and that the "science of history" was a farce.
Aesthetics
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Croce's work Breviario di estetica (The Essence of Aesthetics) appears in the form of four lessons (quattro lezioni) in aesthetics that he was asked to write and deliver at the inauguration of Rice University in 1912. He declined an invitation to attend the event, but he wrote the lessons and submitted them for translation so that they could be read in his absence.
In this brief, but dense, work, Croce sets forth his theory of art. He believed that art is more important than science or metaphysics since only art edifies us. He claimed that all we know can be reduced to imaginative knowledge. Art springs from the latter, making it at its heart, pure imagery. All thought is based in part on this, and it precedes all other thought. The task of an artist is then to invent the perfect image that they can produce for their viewer since this is what beauty fundamentally is – the formation of inward, mental images in their ideal state. Our intuition is the basis for forming these concepts within us.
Croce was the first to develop a position later known as aesthetic expressivism,[26] the idea that art expresses emotions, not ideas.[27] (R. G. Collingwood later developed a similar thesis.)[26]
Croce's theory was later debated by such contemporary Italian philosophers as Umberto Eco, who locates the aesthetic within a semiotic construction.[28]
Contributions to liberal political theory
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Liberalism |
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Croce's liberalism differs from the theories advocated by most proponents of liberal political thought, including those in Britain and in the United States. While Croce theorises that the individual is the basis of society, he rejects
In Etica e politica (1931), Croce defines liberalism as an ethical conception of life that rejects dogmatism and favours diversity, and in the name of liberty and free choice of the individual, is hostile to the authoritarianism of fascism, communism, and the Catholic Church.[17] While Croce realizes that democracy can sometimes threaten individual liberty, he sees liberalism and democracy as predicated on the same ideals of moral equality and opposition to authority.[17] Furthermore, he acknowledged the positive historic role played by the Socialist parties in Italy in their struggles to improve conditions for the working class, and urged modern socialists to swear off dictatorial solutions.[17] In contrast to the socialists, who Croce viewed as part of modernity along with liberals, his condemnation of reactionaries is unremittingly harsh.[17]
Croce draws a distinction between liberalism and capitalism or
Principal works
- Materialismo storico ed economia marxistica (1900), translated into English by C.M. Meredith as Historical Materialism and the Economics of Karl Marx (1914); full text of revised 4th Italian edition (1921), final Italian edition revised by author 1951
- L'Estetica come scienza dell'espressione e linguistica generale (1902), translated into English by Douglas Ainslie as Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistic (2nd edition, based on revised 5th Italian edition), new translation by Colin Lyas as The Aesthetic as the Science of Expression and of the Linguistic in General (1992); full text of revised 3rd Italian edition (1908), final Italian edition revised by author 1950
- Filosofia della pratica, economica ed etica (1909), translated into English by Douglas Ainslie as Philosophy of the Practical Economic and Ethic (1913); full text of revised 3rd Italian edition (1923), final Italian edition revised by author 1950
- Logica come scienza del concetto puro (1905), translated as Logic as the Science of the Pure Concept (1917, based on revised 3rd Italian edition); full text of revised 4th Italian edition (1920), final edition revised by author 1947
- La filosofia di Giambattista Vico (1911)
- Filosofia dello spirito (1912)
- La rivoluzione napoletana del 1799. Biografie, racconti, ricerche (revised 3rd edition, 1912); final edition revised by author 1948
- Breviario di estetica (1913)
- What is Living and What is Dead of the Philosophy of Hegel (Saggio sullo Hegel), translated by Douglas Ainslie (1915)
- Contributo alla critica di me stesso (1918); revised edition 1945
- Storie e leggende napoletane (1919)
- Teoria e storia della storiografia (1920), translated into English by Douglas Ainslie as Theory and History of Historiography (1921)
- Racconto degli racconti (first translation into Italian from Neapolitan of Giambattista Basile's Pentamerone, Lo cunto de li cunti, 1925)
- "Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals" (in La Critica, 1 May 1925)
- Storia del regno di Napoli (1925), translated into English by Frances Frenaye as History of the Kingdom of Naples (1970, based on the revised 3rd edition of 1953)
- History of Europe in the Nineteenth Century (1933)
- Ultimi saggi (1935)
- La poesia (1936)
- La storia come pensiero e come azione;[12] 1938), translated into English by Sylvia Sprigge as History as the Story of Liberty (1941) in London
- Il carattere della filosofia moderna (1941)
- Perché non possiamo non dirci "cristiani" (1942)
- Politics and Morals (1945). Croce's dynamic conception of liberty, liberalism and the relation of individual morality to the State.
- Filosofia e storiografia (1949)
See also
- Contributions to liberal theory
References
- ^ Robin Headlam Wells, Glenn Burgess, Rowland Wymer (eds.), Neo-historicism: Studies in Renaissance Literature, History, and Politics Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2000, p. 3.
- ^ Lorenzo Benadusi, Giorgio Caravale, George L. Mosse's Italy: Interpretation, Reception, and Intellectual Heritage, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, p. 17
- ^ a b "BIOGRAPHY OF BENEDETTO CROCE – HistoriaPage". Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 7 October 2020. "...distinguished philosopher..."
- ^ "Benedetto Croce | Italian philosopher". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
- ^ "Croce ed Einaudi: un confronto su liberalismo e liberismo in "Croce e Gentile"". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 25 September 2023.
- ^ "Croce e il liberalismo in "Croce e Gentile"". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 25 September 2023.
- ^ "Nomination Database". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
- ISBN 978-1-4875-0446-5.
- ^ "Benedetto Croce". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
- ^ ISBN 0-86597-268-0 (hardback). See Croce 1938.
- ^ Croce, Benedetto 'The Philosophy of Giambattista Vico' trans R.G.Collingwood London, 1923
- ^ Rizi, Fabio Fernando (2003). Benedetto Croce and Italian Fascism. University of Toronto Press. p. 34.
- ^ Denis Mack Smith, "Benedetto Croce: History and Politics", Journal of Contemporary History Vol 8(1) Jan 1973 pg 47.
- ^ Gallo, Max (1973). Mussolini's Italy; Twenty Years of the Fascist Era. Macmillan. p. 188.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rizi, Fabio Fernando (2003). Benedetto Croce and Italian Fascism. University of Toronto Press. pp. 124–139.
- ^ See the detailed description in a letter by Fausto Nicolini to Giovanni Gentile published in Sasso, Gennaro (1989). Per invigilare me stesso. Bologna: Il mulino. pp. 139–40.
- tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy.
- ISBN 978-88-317-9635-4. BENEDETTO CROCE. Il filosofo napoletano fu l'unico grande intellettuale a prendere pubblicamente posizione in Italia contro le concezioni razziste e contro le persecuzioni antiebraiche attuate dal nazismo e dal fascismo , in scritti e interventi pubblicati sulla sua rivista « La Critica » e su organi di stampa stranieri.
- ^ Nuova Rivista Storica. gen-apr2020, Vol. 104 Issue 1, p1-137. 137p. Di Rienzo Eugenio
- ISBN 978-88-417-6008-6.
- ^
Tagliacozzo, Franca; Migliau, Bice (1993). Gli ebrei nella storia e nella società contemporanea (in Italian). La Nuova Italia. ISBN 978-88-221-1223-1.
- ISBN 978-0-8020-3762-6.
- ^ La Critica. Rivista di Letteratura, Storia e Filosofia diretta da B. Croce, 1, 1903 p. 372
- ^ a b Berys Gaut and Dominic McIver Lopes, The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics, Routledge, 2002, ch. 11: "Expressivism: Croce and Collingwood."
- ^ Benedetto Croce, Breviario di estetica, 1912: "Not the idea, but the feeling, is what confers upon art the airy lightness of a symbol: an aspiration enclosed in the circle of a representation—that is art." [Non l'idea, ma il sentimento è quel che conferisce all'arte l'aerea leggerezza del simbolo: un'aspirazione chiusa nel giro di una rappresentazione, ecco l'arte.]
- ^ Umberto Eco, A Theory of Semiotics (Indiana University Press, 1976).
Further reading
- Alfredo Parente, Il pensiero politico di Benedetto Croce e il nuovo liberalismo (1944).
- Hayden White, "The Abiding Relevance of Croce's Idea of History." The Journal of Modern History, vol. XXXV, no 2, June 1963, pp. 109–124.
- Hayden White, "The Question of Narrative in Contemporary Historical Theory", History and Theory, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Feb. 1984), pp. 1–33.
- Myra E. Moss, Benedetto Croce reconsidered: Truth and Error in Theories of Art, Literature, and History , Hanover, NH: UP of New England, 1987.
- Ernesto Paolozzi, Science and Philosophy in Benedetto Croce, in "Rivista di Studi Italiani", University of Toronto, 2002.
- Janos Keleman, A Paradoxical Truth. Croce's Thesis of Contemporary History, in "Rivista di Studi Italiani, University of Toronto, 2002.
- Giuseppe Gembillo, Croce and the Theorists of Complexity, in "Rivista di Studi Italiani, University of Toronto, 2002.
- Fabio Fernando Rizi, Benedetto Croce and Italian Fascism, University of Toronto Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-8020-3762-6.
- Ernesto Paolozzi, Benedetto Croce, Cassitto, Naples, 1998 (translated by M. Verdicchio (2008) www.ernestopaolozzi.it)
- Carlo Schirru, Per un’analisi interlinguistica d’epoca: Grazia Deledda e contemporanei, Rivista Italiana di Linguistica e di Dialettologia, Fabrizio Serra editore, Pisa–Roma, Anno XI, 2009, pp. 9–32
- Matteo Veronesi, Il critico come artista dall'estetismo agli ermetici. D'Annunzio, Croce, Serra, Luzi e altri, Bologna, Azeta Fastpress, 2006,
- David D. Roberts, Benedetto Croce and the Uses of Historicism. Berkeley: U of California Press, (1987).
- Claes G. Ryn, Will, Imagination and Reason: Babbitt, Croce and the Problem of Reality (1997; 1986).
- R. G. Collingwood, "Croce's Philosophy of History" in The Hibbert Journal, XIX: 263–278 (1921), collected in Collingwood, Essays in the Philosophy of History, ed. William Debbins (University of Texas 1965) at 3–22.
- Roberts, Jeremy, Benito Mussolini, Twenty-First Century Books, 2005. ISBN 978-0-8225-2648-3.
- Richard Bellamy, A Modern Interpreter: Benedetto Croce and the Politics of Italian Culture, in The European Legacy, 2000, 5:6, pp. 845–861. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/713665534
- Daniela La Penna, The Rise and Fall of Benedetto Croce: Intellectual Positionings in the Italian Cultural Field, 1944–1947, in Modern Italy, 2016, 21:2, pp. 139–155. DOI:: https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/mit.2016.5
External links
- Fondazione Biblioteca Benedetto Croce
- Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Storici, founded by Benedetto Croce
- Works by Benedetto Croce at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Benedetto Croce at Internet Archive
- Works by Benedetto Croce at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Online English translations of books by Croce
- Croce's Aesthetics At the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- PEN International
- Carlo Scognamiglio Pasini, "Liberismo e liberalismo nella polemica fra Croce ed Einaudi"(in Italian)
- Antonio Zanfarino, "Liberalismo e liberismo. Il confronto Croce-Einaudi" (in Italian)
- Newspaper clippings about Benedetto Croce in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW