La filosofia di Marx

by Giovanni Gentile

Giovanni Gentile is widely acknowledged as the foundational philosopher of Italian Fascism. He worked in academia as well as government, contributing to the formation of the Italian corporate state and education system under Bennito Mussolini. Gentile continued writing and contributing to the Italian Fascist state until his assassination by the Italian Communist Party in 1944.
In The Philosophy of Marx, Gentile critiques the failures of Marxist philosophy as presented by numerous thinkers including Marx himself. Gentile argues that Marx erred in his conception of historical materialism, which led to flaws in Marxist praxis, and presents his view of a more authentically Hegelian philosophy of dialectics and epistemology. According to Gentile, who promoted what he termed "actual idealism," the dialectic was not a mystical, external force, but rather an organic element of life, and required a strong, central state, which could coordinate and fulfill otherwise competing and struggling identities and interests.
Antelope Hill is proud to present its original translation of Giovanni Gentile's The Philosophy of Marx originally published in 1899, updated in 1937. This work is fundamental to understanding the politics of the early twentieth century and will remain invaluable to future generations looking to understand the past.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics

234 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2014

About the author

Giovanni Gentile (Italian: [dʒoˈvanni dʒenˈtiːle]; May 30, 1875 – April 15, 1944) was an Italian neo-Hegelian Idealist philosopher and politician, a peer of Benedetto Croce. He described himself as 'the philosopher of Fascism', and ghostwrote A Doctrine of Fascism (1932) for Benito Mussolini. He also devised his own system of philosophy, Actual Idealism.

Reviews

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Due studi di Gentile, pubblicati nel 1899 e ristampati nel 1937, sulla filosofia di Marx, per come si può ricavare da vari scritti e frammenti, scritti su incitamento di Labriola e costantemente "dialogando" con il Croce del "Materialismo". E lo studio, il primo è proprio sul materialismo storico, che Gentile riconosce, al contrario di Croce, come vera filosofia della storia. L'altro e sulla filosofia della prassi del Marx filosofo che appare dalle tesi su Feuerbach. Beh, che dire? interessante è dir poco; attuale, non saprei. Vero è che ricevette "i complimenti" di un maestro: "...a quel mio volumetto anche Lenin aveva fatto attenzione e lo aveva additato tra gli studi più notevoli che intorno a Marx avessero compiuto filosofi non marxisti" ("Avvertenza", 1937).

[Cw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Antelope Hill translation of this. I have never read marxist literature other than the manifesto, so this was a decent introduction into marxist philosophy for me. The main problem with marxist philosophy (historical materialism and praxis in particular) is that its basis is materialism. Materialism is an insufficient model for explaining reality, and this leads to problems. Keep in mind that politics is based on ethics, and ethics is based on metaphysics. If your metaphysics is false, everything afterwards will be false. I rated it 4/5 because some parts I skimmed. I think the book could have been half as long, but it is still an interesting piece of history as is.

[Vlad Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

perhaps one of the best analysis of Marx's philosophy out there, Gentile as a fellow hegelian has a much deeper understanding of Marx than your average supporters and critics of the man alike