Abstract

It would be unfaithful to Croce's own principles to attribute to the historical genesis of his philosophy excessive importance. But though one must recognize that it is not a mere product of circumstances, it is necessary to grasp the nature of the background against which it arose. Only then will its polemical character become apparent, and only then will it assume the place due to it in the chain of philosophical progress. We must not attempt to consider his philosophy of history as a system to be connected with other systems; the changing, prolific nature of Croce's thought as well as his own assertions in his "Autobiography" forbid such an approach; and to systematize where the author himself does not would be too presumptuous a project, and might falsify the understanding of Croce's thought in the process of crystallizing it.