The Theory of Mind as Pure Act
- Language:
- English
- Translation:
- H. Wildon Carr
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~100,000 words · 485 passages
Cite this work
- APAGiovanni Gentile. (n.d.). The Theory of Mind as Pure Act. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/giovanni-gentile/the-theory-of-mind-as-pure-act
- MLAGiovanni Gentile. "The Theory of Mind as Pure Act." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/giovanni-gentile/the-theory-of-mind-as-pure-act.
- ChicagoGiovanni Gentile. The Theory of Mind as Pure Act. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/giovanni-gentile/the-theory-of-mind-as-pure-act.
What it is about
Gentile's central work, of 1916, where he takes idealism all the way: there is nothing outside the act of thinking while it is being thought.
Context and history
His 'actualism' holds that everything that exists exists within the present act of thought, and that a thought already thought is not thought but thing. From this comes a philosophy of education and of history that was very influential in Italy. That is one part of what must be known; the other is that Gentile was Mussolini's minister of education in 1922, drew up the 'Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals' in 1925, and wrote the doctrinal part of the article 'Fascism' in the Italian Encyclopaedia signed by Mussolini. He was shot by partisans in 1944. He is in the corpus because he is a real piece of the history of ideas and because his philosophy can be argued with on its own terms; to read him without knowing the rest would be to read him badly.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
More than twenty years ago I dedicated to you a book which bore witness to a concordia discors, a friendship formed by discussions and intellectual collaboration. I have seen with joy a younger generation look up to our friendship as an example to follow. In all these years our collaboration has become ever more inward, our friendship ever more living. But my old book is no longer alive in my soul, and this is why I feel the need to inscribe your much-loved name in this. G. THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE ... so I print this small volume (as I hope to print others in years to come) in order not to part company with my students when their examination is over, and in order that I may be ready, if my work be not lost, to repeat in these pages mv reply, or my encouragement to make them seek their own reply, when they feel the need arise — and that I hope will not be seldom — to meet the serious problems, so old yet ever new, which I have discussed in the class-room. The first edition of this book had its origin in^a course of lectures given at the University of Pisa, in the Academic year 1915-16. It was exhausted in a few months. The continued demand, seeming to prove that the interest in the work is not diminishing, has induced me to reprint the book as it first appeared, without waiting for the time and leisure necessary for the complete revision I wished to make. I should like to have given another form to the whole treatment and more particularly to expound several subjects hardly noticed. I 'have, however, devoted as much care to the revision as the shortness of the time at my disposal made possible. I have replaced the original lecture form of the book with chapters, revising as far as possible the exposition, making it as clear as I was able to, introducing here and there notes and comments XXV xxvi THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE which I hope will be of use to students, and I have added at the end two chapters, originally the sub ject of a communication t