Originally published in English in 1950 this is one of the most revealing works by one of Italy's foremost philosophers of the 20th century, who was also a courageous and effective opponent of Fascism. Following the Allied landing at Salerno, Croce was called upon by kings, princes, generals and politicians and asked to decide question of vital importance to Italy. This book records the notes Croce made on political matters in 1943 and 1944 and includes some of the many documents (...) Croce possessed which referred to the attempt in Naples to form a Corps of Italian volunteers. (shrink)

Benedetto Croce was a historian, humanist, political figure, and the foremost Italian philosopher of the early twentieth-century. A Croce Reader brings together the author's most important works across the fields of aesthetics, philosophy, history, literary criticism, and the Baroque and presents the "other" Croce that has been erased by scholarly tradition, including by Croce himself. Massimo Verdicchio traces the progress of Croce as a thinker, focusing on his philosophy of absolute historicism and its aesthetic implications. Unlike other anthologies, A (...) Croce Reader includes essays from the Aesthetics of 1902 and key studies on Vico, Hegel, and Pirandello. Verdicchio's masterful translation of the source material welcomes specialists and non-specialists alike to discover the "other" Croce for themselves. (shrink)

TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN OF BENEDETTO CROCE BY DOUGLAS AINSLIE B.A. (OXON.).

The Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce (1866-1952) spent most of his life as a private scholar in Naples. His Estetica, which first appeared in 1902, has remained a seminal work not only for aesthetics but also for general linguistics. As the full title indicates, this is not a narrow work dealing with the theory of art and criticism. For Croce intended this to be the first part of his "philosophy of the spirit" and he thus presents a systematic general theory (...) intended to solve all philosophical problems. The work presents an account of the structure of the human mind and shows how art arises naturally from that structure, as well as introducing the influential notion of the organic unity of a work of art. As a result, art is shown to be integral to any life and an essential aspect of what it is to be human. This new translation of the first and most important part of the work (Theory) supersedes the defective translation by D. Ainslie, first published in 1909. It is based on the most recent Italian edition (1990). In his foreword the translator addresses the difficulties in translating certain key words in the Italian original, "scienza", "fantasia", and of course, "estetica" itself. He also furnishes the reader with helpful explanatory annotation. This publication will be of cardinal importance for all those interested in the philosophy of art, the history of criticism, and the history of linguistics. (shrink)

Benedetto Croce reageert op het fascistisch manifest van Gentile en laat niet alleen zien dat dat manifest net als het fascisme zelf een incoherente en bizarre mengelmoes is, maar roept ook op tot een behoud van de traditionele, humanistische waarden.

Este ensaio de Benedetto Croce aponta os erros da ideia de materialismo histórico de Karl Marx e da sua economia. Para rebater as ideias de Marx e dos aficionados marxistas da época, Croce expõe feridas da forma científica do Materialismo Histórico, na premissa de que a economia é o principal fator histórico da humanidade, sobre a interpretação crítica de conceitos marxistas, das falhas do valor-trabalho e da questão sobre a queda na taxa de lucros, do livro III de Das (...) Kapital. Se o leitor quer um único livro para refutar Marx, este serve bem à causa, porque, no texto, Croce dialoga com vários pensadores da época que viam na obra de Marx méritos além dos que ele via. Croce entendia que certas questões da teoria marxista valiam a pena serem debatidas, mas havia pontos, principalmente de método e de lógica, que a obra de Marx passava longe, ou melhor, não via. Benedetto Croce foi um filósofo, historiador e político italiano que escreveu sobre diversos assuntos, incluindo filosofia, história, historiografia e estética. Em muitos aspectos, Croce era liberal, embora se opusesse ao livre comércio do laissez-faire. Exerceu considerável influência sobre outros intelectuais italianos, incluindo o marxista Antonio Gramsci e o fascista Giovanni Gentile, com quem rompeu a parceria intelectual, justamente por conta do fascismo. (shrink)

The Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce (1866–1952) spent most of his life as a private scholar in Naples. His Estetica, which first appeared in 1902, has remained a seminal work not only for aesthetics but also for general linguistics. As the full title indicates, this is not a narrow work dealing with the theory of art and criticism. For Croce intended this to be the first part of his 'philosophy of the spirit' and he thus presents a systematic general theory (...) intended to solve all philosophical problems. The work presents an account of the structure of the human mind and shows how art arises naturally from that structure, as well as introducing the influential notion of the organic unity of a work of art. As a result, art is shown to be integral to any life and an essential aspect of what it is to be human. (shrink)

Dans l'œuvre immense de Benedetto Croce (1866-1952) l'esthétique occupe une place centrale. Philosophe peu orthodoxe inspiré par les pensées de Kant et de Vico il a profondément marqué la culture italienne. Associé souvent à Gentile avec lequel il a rompu en 1925, en s'opposant au fascisme, il a réfléchi toute sa vie à une philosophie immanentiste de l'Esprit où l'esthétique trouverait sa place à côté d'une logique, d'une philosophie de la pratique et d'une économie ou philosophie de l'utile. L'influence (...) de Croce s'exerça non seulement sur les philosophes mais aussi sur des historiens de l'art comme Lionello Venturi, Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, Julius Schlosser, Hans Sedlmayr ou encore Herbert Read et Pierre Francastel qui en discutèrent les thèses. Le Bréviaire d'esthétique (1912) rassemble quatre conférences destinées à un public nord-américain à l'invitation du " Rice Institute " qui ouvrait alors ses portes au Texas. Ces conférences jamais prononcées furent néanmoins publiées en anglais dès 1913, et marquent une étape importante dans la réflexion esthétique du philosophe napolitain qui qualifie alors l'art d'" intuition lyrique ". À ces conférences furent ajoutés plus tard deux autres textes ici traduits. Lire Croce aujourd'hui permet de revenir à la source d'un ensemble de questions auxquelles l'esthétique contemporaine est confrontée tout en découvrant une pensée qui, bien que souvent hostile à certaines manifestations de l'art de son temps (D'Annunzio ou les futuristes par exemple), restait paradoxalement ouverte à ses transformations qu'elle recommandait de saisir dans leur singularité et leur mouvement propre. D'où une conception particulière de la critique et de ses rapports avec l'histoire de l'art que l'on trouvera ici exposée. (shrink)

Cultura e vita morale intermezzi polemici è una raccolta di saggi scritti da Benedetto Croce, uno dei filosofi più importanti del XX secolo. Questo libro offre una critica dura ma illuminante della cultura morale dell'epoca, indicando chiaramente le conseguenze della perdita dei valori morali nella società moderna. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the (...) United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

In this classic work, renowned Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce delves into the nature of philosophy and its role in society. He elucidates his own philosophical position, which emphasizes the importance of history and the rejection of abstract metaphysical systems. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. (...) Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Written in 1938 when the Western world had succumbed to the notion that history is a creature of blind force. A reviewer at the time noted the importance of Croce's belief that "the central trend in the evolution of man is the unfolding of new potentialities, and that the task of the historian is to discover and emphasise this trend: the story of liberty". As Croce himself writes, "Even in the darkest and crassest times liberty trembles in the lines of (...) poets and affirms itself in the pages of thinkers and burns, solitary and magnificent, in some men who cannot be assimilated by the world around them." The first edition in English of HISTORY AS THE STORY OF LIBERTY appeared in London in 1941. The new Liberty Fund edition includes modest improvements to the translation by Folke Leander and arranged by Claes Ryn. (shrink)

Le lettere che compongono il carteggio intercorso fra Benedetto Croce e Giosue Carducci sfuggono, per l'una e l'altra parte, alle classificazioni dell'epistolografia e vari sono i motivi: la limitata consistenza delle lettere, in tutto ventiquattro, inclusive di carte da visita e telegramma, che si susseguono, talvolta a lunghi intervalli e in numero decrescente, nell'arco di tempo 1887-1906; la distanza anagrafica che si dà tra i due interlocutori: l'uno, il 'poeta vate' che alla data dell'incontro, pur ancora in piena attività, (...) inizia o ha già iniziato la sua parabola di lento declino; l'altro, il brillante dotto erudito e futuro filosofo, ma già orientato a studiare la scienza estetica attraverso il filosofare sulla storia, che, nel pieno delle forze intellettuali, percorre la propria con agilità. Non frammenti di vita privata, non sfumature psicologiche, non ideologie politiche, non teorie filosofiche emergono da questo carteggio bensì, salvo rari gesti di cortesia, esigenze di ordine intellettuale, di ricerca e di studio. L'impressione che se ne ricava è comunque quella di entrare nell''officina' dei due 'grandi operai' della cultura. E, sotto questo aspetto, il carteggio acquista interesse, innanzi tutto per la statura dei personaggi, due titani del sapere, e, in secondo luogo, proprio in ragione di quei tempi 'vuoti' o 'morti' che interrompono il flusso temporale dello scambio di lettere, ma che si rivelano 'pieni' ove si ricorra alla saggistica di entrambe le parti, che ha attinenza con gli argomenti trattati e che instaura un 'dialogo' tra lettere e opere. Un dialogo che trova anche consistenza e validità attraverso il manufatto, il 'libro', ovvero le edizioni a stampa delle proprie opere delle quali i due interlocutori avrebbero fatto dono l'un l'altro. (shrink)