author
Giovanni Gentile
1875–1944
A central figure in Italian idealist philosophy, this influential thinker also helped shape the intellectual language of Fascist Italy. His work on education, politics, and "actual idealism" made him both widely read and deeply controversial.
1 Audiobook
The Reform of Education
by Giovanni Gentile
About the author
Born in Castelvetrano, Sicily, in 1875, Giovanni Gentile became one of Italy's best-known philosophers, educators, and public intellectuals. He is especially associated with actual idealism, his own form of idealist philosophy, and with major work in education and cultural life, including editorial and academic roles.
Gentile was also closely tied to Benito Mussolini's regime. He served as Italy's minister of public instruction in the early 1920s and became known for giving philosophical support to Fascism, which is why he is often remembered as the "philosopher of Fascism." That political involvement has made his legacy sharply contested.
He remained an important and divisive public figure through the Second World War. In 1944, during the final phase of the war in Italy, he was killed in Florence. Today he is studied both for his influence on 20th-century philosophy and for the troubling political role he chose to play.