SOURCE: “Giovanni Gentile,” in Modern Italian Social Theory: Ideology and Politics from Pareto to the Present, Polity Press, 1987, pp. 100-14.

In the following essay, Bellamy questions whether or not Gentile's concept of actual idealism always leads to fascism.

Giovanni Gentile was born at Castelvetrano in Sicily on 30 May 1875, and assassinated by communist partisans on 15 April 1944. Best known as the philosopher of fascism, he was as important as Croce, with whom he collaborated until 1924, in reviving the idealist tradition in Italy. In some respects his influence was greater than Croce's, since his university position gave him more opportunities for building up an academic school. This was particularly true after the fascist seizure of power when, as Minister of Education in Mussolini's first government, he was able to apply his ideas in a comprehensive reform of the educational system, and ultimately became the official cultural spokesman of the regime. Above...