An Autobiography (Contributo alla critica di me stesso)

117 Pages·1927·12.946 MB·English

by  Benedetto Croce

BENEDETTO ClQOCE
An Autobiography
Oxford University Prea
Lm& Edl~dlayXh Gl*xcm Csp#hqm
Nn r 4 T.r*tr. hGll.wnic ClpaiaPn
Bimbrj Cnioitrr Mdnr Skn.tbi
Hiimphrcy Milford Fublishcr to thc U~ivmsiru
BENEDETTO CROCE
A n Autobiography
Tran~latedfr om the Italian by
& G. COLLINGWOOD
Witb a Preface by
.f. A. SMITH
X
Oxfoord
&t the Clarendon Pre.rs
1927

P<EFflOqY NOTE
IT u MW nearly twenty yearJ ago that
tbe atankon of tho~em ho in fhi~co untry
are intere~tedin the progre.r~o f philo~ophic
of
thought in other countrier Europe began
to be drawn towards ItaCy. For a time that
attention war diqer~edo ver the whole fìeld
or caugbt by what proved to be figurer of
minor importante; but it waJ not long before
it was arre~teda nd fo~mredu pon thore of
Croce and Gentilc. The watcherr of the
pbilomphic heavm~b ecame amare that in
tbe Italian qtmrter thmh ad appeared a new
and increaring of light whichchli,k e that
J O U ~
of two planets in cloie conjunction,gradually
re~olvedi t~eyintoi t~tw o componentr, each
of whith on nearer examination di~cloredt o
the view of ob~nvear ~ne w world of thotgbt~.
Orperhapritwould be historically more cowect
to Jay that what waJ Jeen at fi~tw ar the
a~pecto f it which belong~t o the mind of
Croce, and it m aa little later that that which
6 P R E F A T O R Y N O T E
belongs to that of Gentileemelgedfiom behind
it and revealed it~eyas anather luminary
whosefeatures rerembledhut merealsodzFerent
from those of itr companion. At any rate it
became evident that a new and important
dwelopmetit of philor@~ic thought had begun
and mar proceeding in contemporary Ztaly.
Duritg the twenty years ince the evidences
of this movement were jrst de~cdedd, e~pite
the dktractìons due to tbe War, the study of
the worh of these its leaders, and imprimis
of Croce, ha$ cngaged an increaa'ng number
of comipetently eg rrippedrchohrs, and intere~t
in ar curiosity a6out tbem bar continued
to 3prea.d amang the Bn'tish reuding public.
Tbere bar bem a callfrom those wbo do not
read Ztalianf ar introductions to a knowledge
of their doctrines, and in rame meamrc that
of
demand in cuurse being rnet. Tbus their
i3
general Z&zeaments are becoming familiar,
althougb their doctn'nes are shll far from
being clearly and distinttCy apprehended, or
apprenated in theirjùll importante.
To many or most Englsh Jtudentr of
P R E F A T O R Y N O T E 7
pbiltihpby tbe dirroveq tbat tberc'lad a&en
of
i;a.$@ly pbilo~@bict binhrs a &agni&e
:iocaiirpaPable. &th tbtire of Germany, France,
d:Ei&ind itie6 came as a stiprise. We
had aÌlowed our~eluet~o become accu~tomed
to rcgard the Italian gmiw as hauing its
p@ and in otber pbenr tban tbat
of philosophic qeculation-mi unrefiecting
judgrmmtformed and beki in menf ozgetful-
ners andiporance, The ympathy bere witb
tbc,l ong >ruggle' of Ita& in .tbe mid and
late:n ineteenth ce'nturyf or political freedom
and::unity bad.been .live@ and bidespread.
.Tbm.haa.beehd uring tbat sttuggle mucb
' '
~ntcrcour~ane d intercommuvication betmeen
. ..
" meta of l@ and Zeading in tbe two coun-
mès. Tbiswai acmpanied or follomed by
a reawakening of iuierest in ~talianb ii-
toy, literature, and art. Later the inmeated
fatt1itàes of trauel made the soil of Italy
familiar ground ta many Englirhmen. Tbe
extant monuments and memorialr that bore
mitne~st o tbe magnz$cent achiwemmts of
bwpeople in antiyuity and in tbe MiddZe
8 P R E F A T O R Y N O T E
Ages received their due merd of admiration
and delighted appreciation. But as the facts
andfeaturerofhermodern age wereapproached
there was,it must be confessed a sharp decline
in irzterest and syrnpathy, and consequentìy
in zrnderstanding. The period in ber history
dz~ringa nd subseYuent to the Tenainance
was generally viewed a5 one of decay or even
corruption, and, wannly as herefforts to renew
her youth were welcomed, the actual restrlts
were regarded as not a little disappointing.
Vpon rnodern Italy me tended to look with
friendly butdisenchanted eyes. In spite of the
efforts of a small band of devoted and un-
discouraged lovers of Itaìy, there was among
Engli~hmenn o live4 curiosity even about its
doings and farings, and ve9 little expecta-
tion of contributionsf rom it to the general
stock of European learning, enlZghtenment,
or wisdom. Ouracquuintance with what was
taking place in the higher regions of modern
Italian life and thought was extremely slight
and superficial. Thus the beginnings of the
important speculations which culmirlate in
P R E F A T O R Y N O T E 9
the philorophic ryrtms of Cm&d Gentile
escaped our notice, and when tby carne bej'ore
us in thef orm of large and highly articulated
rtructurer tbeY found us almort wholly unpre-
pamdfor their reception. Thir ignorance and
unpwparednesr war not conjined to EngEirh
obrcrverr of the Ji&r o f the timer. The same
waz the care in Gennany and France.
The conrequence war that to all such ob-
Jeruers itproved an embarras&ngh dz9cult
tark to detennine the place and ertinzate
t0
tbc morth $therc une~ectedlw ninarier. In
thir d i w t y thq were no: mholly m'thout
excnre orgut'Ity fo mere carehrnerr and in-
difercnce. Till theàr appearance, far m e
time that quarter of tbe ~kyh ad been empty
of rtarr of the firrt or even tbe iecond arder
of mapitude, andprerented little more tban
faint ncbuùu. OccoJioml explorerr of the
jeld of recent phihrophu literature found
not mucb more nport than what appeared
to be belated attemptr to refurblrh outtaom
rcholadcirm~o r pale and ambiguour rejlec-
tions of foreign pdritivirnr. Ai a general
p016 B
P R E F A T O R Y N O T E
IO
impresion this was not incowect, though it
involved a certairi unfairness to some indivi-
dua/ Itafian thinkers. It must alro be borne
in mind that the low estate of philosopbical
~tudiesw aJ at that time afmost universal
in Europe. But there mas much less excuse
for the judgement, too basti4 based upon
this temporary phenomenon, that there mar
in the Italian mind a native incapaity for
such studies. To speak of ~uchn ational or
racial disabilities ZJ in itselffoolish enough,
but bere to assume or infer it couU only be
done by those wbo in the fit place had
forgotten, or never knomn of, the works of
Aguina~o,f Campanella and Bruno and Yico,
and zn the second place had restricted tbc
evidence upon wbich tbey founded their
judgement to the mritinp of academic or
profesfed cphilosophers', ignoring the manner
in mhich the same spirit lived and operated
in tbe works of men of science like Galileo,
or artistic and fiterary cn'tics fike Francesco
de Sanchs. We are all and at al1 times
only too apt to under-estimate the manner in