Giovanni Gentile (Gentile Giovanni)

(1875-1944)
Gentile was born May 30, 1875 in Castelvetrano (Sicily). He taught at the universities of Palermo and Pisa, in 1917 became professor of philosophy at the University of Rome. Gentile - the founder of 'actual idealism', 'theory of mind as pure act', branch neo-Hegelianism, emerged from the Neapolitan Hegelian movement in the late 19. In terms actualism - the enemy of naturalism and positivism, the act of thought ( 'thought thinking') is the only reality, the dialectic of the act is such that makes the immanent itself all other things. It is an act samokonstituiruyuschy and self-reinforcing, and at the same time - I'm finding the language and the social world, defined by the norms and values. The most complete 'actual' dialectic manifests itself in logic, metaphysics and philosophy of the state. Gentile's approach best described in the following of his works - The General Theory of mind as pure act (Teoria generale dello spirito come atto puro, 1916); system of logic as a theory of knowledge (Sistema di logica come teoria del conoscere, v.1-2, 3, ed. 1940-1942) and the Principles of Philosophy of Law (I Fondamenti della filosofia del diritto, 1916). Among his other works - Philosophy of Marx (La filosofia di Marx, . 1899); origins of the modern Italian philosophy (Le origini della filosofia comtemporanea in Italia, . 4 vol., . 1917-1923); Education Reform (La riforma dell'educazione, . 1920), Philosophy of Art (La filosofia dell'arte, . 1931); My Religion (La mia religione, . 1943),
.

Gentile was the editor of 'Encyclopedia of the Italian' ( 'Enciclopedia Italiana') in 1925-1943. In 1903-1922, together with B. Croce published the magazine 'criticism' ( 'La Critica'). In October 1922 became minister of education in the government of Mussolini, although at the time and was not a member of the fascist party. This post he held until July 1924. His work The amount of pedagogy (Sommario di pedagogico) is a clear exposition of the idealistic philosophy of education. Works Gentile Minister presented in the book as a guide school Fascism (Fascismo al governo della scuola). When it was adopted by the new (as compared with the law Casati 1859) Education Act.

As a member of the fascist party Gentile was a senator, chairman of the Board of Education (1926-1928), a member of the Fascist Grand Council (1925-1929) and chairman of the committee on constitutional reform. As a Hegelian, he emphasized the importance of national cultural groups and the need to respect the freedom of discipline that led him to support fascism. During the Second World War, his influence and reputation quickly came to naught. Gentile was killed on the streets of Florence guerrillas April 15, 1944.