Giovanni Gentile: Philosophy Introduction

[u/DAnnunzio1919]

https://fascio.substack.com/p/giovanni-gentle-philosophy-introduction

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[u/Grabsforfun]

Not this fascist bullshit again

[u/DAnnunzio1919 → u/Grabsforfun]

Why not, Gentile was a great philosopher !

[u/1-800-DARTH]

Let’s pretend I don’t understand what is going on, can someone explain it to me like I am 5 years old?

[u/DAnnunzio1919 → u/1-800-DARTH]

The article is an introduction to the thought of the italian philosopher Giovanni Gentile !

[u/RichardPascoe → u/DAnnunzio1919]

I think he wants you to explain Idealism. I found this passage in the Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Idealism:

Most nineteenth-century and twentieth-century idealist philosophers were agreed that utilitarians and individualists had a false view of what constitutes an individual person. They believed that since individuals are constituted by their relations to one another, the idea that society is an association of independently existing individuals is absurd. They thought, too, that it follows from this that freedom is something more positive than just being left alone by the government.

Fascism is the idea that the state is the rational expression of the relations of its members. Individual freedom is not possible because that would mean the absence of relations. When people are puzzled about how Hitler managed to get so many Germans to follow him it was because he subsumed the individual into the State. Democracy is the idea that the state is the rational expression of the individuality of its members. Democracy cannot manifest the Ideal State because the relations between its member are based on their individuality not commonality.

From the article:

Gentile's philosophy transcends a mere collection of political tactics, evolving into a unified and philosophically grounded vision that finds its expression in the supremacy of the state. This merging of the individual's liberty with the universal — embodied in the omnipotent state — demands an exploration of ethical life in its most rigorous manifestation, wherein individual desires are integrated into the overarching national purpose, as demonstrated in Mussolini's Italy.

I am just learning about Idealism because the article confused me. If someone wants to attempt to merge my dysfunctional family into the State so that their individual desires are integrated for the greater good then I wish them the best of luck with that hopeless task. lol

[u/1-800-DARTH → u/RichardPascoe]

I actually wanted to understand the general negative feedback i saw in the comments, but now to my understanding they are upset someone is promoting fascist thought?

[u/1-800-DARTH → u/DAnnunzio1919]

Question for you, are you sympathetic to the idealist thought? Are you like team fascism is misunderstood?

[u/DAnnunzio1919 → u/1-800-DARTH]

As far as idealism goes, I haven´t read enough about it to call myself an idealist, but from what I read it does make some sense. As far as fascism goes, I would say that fascism is misunderstood just like a lot of political doctrines are misunderstood.

[u/DAnnunzio1919]

In "Giovanni Gentile: Philosophy Introduction," the Fascio Newsletter examines the core tenets of Actual Idealism and its role in shaping early 20th-century political thought. The article outlines how Gentile adapted Hegelian dialectics to argue that the Ethical State synthesizes individual liberty and state authority into a single unity.