Giovanni Gentile
1875–1944 · Fascists & Superfascists · Prominent
Gentile was an Italian idealist who held that reality is the act of thinking itself, never anything already thought, a doctrine he called actual idealism. The thinking subject cannot be made into an object, he argued, so nothing stands outside spirit. Not nature, not the individual, not God. He rebuilt Italian schooling as minister in 1923, drafted the philosophical half of the Doctrine of Fascism published over Mussolini's name, and stayed with the regime to the end. Partisans shot him outside his house in Florence in April 1944.
Signature
The position Gentile is most identified with in the Profiler:
- Mind
- strongly leans Beyond Brain
- Perception
- Idealism
Positions on the 17 axes the sources answer
- Natural Processes
- mildly leans Mechanistic (38 on a 0–100 scale from Mechanistic to Purposeful)
- Society
- strongly leans Collectivism (8 on a 0–100 scale from Collectivism to Individualism)
- Mind
- strongly leans Beyond Brain (96 on a 0–100 scale from Brain Only to Beyond Brain)
- The Divine
- mildly leans Describable (35 on a 0–100 scale from Describable to Indescribable)
- Beauty
- mildly between Subjective and Objective (42 on a 0–100 scale from Subjective to Objective)
- Universals
- leans Nominalism (75 on a 0–100 scale from Realism to Nominalism)
- Meaning
- mildly between Constructed and Inherent (40 on a 0–100 scale from Constructed to Inherent)
- Order
- leans Vertical (25 on a 0–100 scale from Vertical to Horizontal)
- Nature of Reality
- leans Unity (25 on a 0–100 scale from Unity to Multiplicity)
- Ground of Being
- mildly between Immanence and Transcendence (50 on a 0–100 scale from Immanence to Transcendence)
- Truth
- mildly leans Objective (68 on a 0–100 scale from Subjective to Objective)
- Opposition
- leans Sublation (17 on a 0–100 scale from Sublation to Concurrence)
- Nature
- leans Mastery (17 on a 0–100 scale from Mastery to Harmony)
- Polity
- strongly leans Illiberalism (8 on a 0–100 scale from Illiberalism to Liberalism)
- War
- mildly leans Militarism (69 on a 0–100 scale from Pacifism to Militarism)
- Ignorance
- leans Bondage (17 on a 0–100 scale from Bondage to Bliss)
- Conviction
- leans Uncertain (25 on a 0–100 scale from Uncertain to Certain)
3 of 20 axes are left blank: the sources do not answer them, or Gentile refused the framing. Nothing is imputed; a blank is not a middling score.
Foundational questions
- Theology
- Pantheism
What is your position on the existence and nature of God or gods? - Government
- Totalitarianism
What is your ideal form of government? - Highest Good
- Freedom
What is the highest good? - Good and Evil
- Dialectical
What is the fundamental nature of good and evil? - End of Things
- No End
What is the ultimate end of all things? - Perception
- Idealism
What do we directly perceive? - Knowledge
- Other
What is the ultimate foundation of knowledge? - Ethics Basis
- Intention
What is the ultimate basis of ethics? - Agency
- Radical Freedom
What is the nature of human agency and freedom? - Beginning of Things
- Mind-Only / Causa Sui
What is the origin of reality? - Time
- Eternal Present
What is the fundamental shape of time? - Economy
- Other
What is the ideal organization of economic life? - Authority
- Collective Will
What is the legitimate source of authority? - Language
- Expression
What is the fundamental nature of language? - Paradox
- Dialectical Sublation
What is the status of paradox? - Human Nature
- Existence Precedes Essence
What is human nature? - Primary Bond
- Nation
What is your primary bond and loyalty?