Giovanni Gentile: Biography from Answers.com Mobile

Giovanni Gentile

(born May 30, 1875, Castelvetrano, Italy — died April 15, 1944, Florence) Italian philosopher, sometimes called the "philosopher of fascism." A university professor, he and Benedetto Croce edited the journal La Critica (1903 – 22). He served in education posts in Benito Mussolini's government. His philosophy of "actual idealism," strongly influenced by G.W.F. Hegel, denied the existence of individual minds and of any distinction between theory and practice, subject and object, past and present. He planned and edited the Enciclopedia Italiana (1936) and wrote prolifically on education and philosophy. Among his works are The Reform of Education (1920), The Philosophy of Art (1931), and My Religion (1943). He was killed by antifascist communists.

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