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Our interest is an interpretation or philosophy of history that goes beyond the orderly narrative or simple “chronicle” (as Benedetto Croce ironically calls it).
In: Historiological Discussions, Silo
Introduction to Historiological Discussions
Benedetto Croce (1866 – 1952)
Benedetto Croce (1866 – 1952)
Philosopher, historian, politician, art historian, critic.
Biographical information
Biographical information
1866 Born on 25 February in Pescasseroli, Italy
1886 Graduated in philosophy and literature in Naples
1902 Publication of ‘Estetica come scienza dell'espressione’ (Aesthetics as the Science of Expression)
1915 Founded the magazine ‘La Critica’
1925 Publication of ‘Teoria e storia della storiografia’ (Theory and History of Historiography)
1944 Minister for Education in the Italian government
1952 Died on 20 November in Naples, Italy
Topics
Topics
Philosophy of Mind: Croce developed a four-tiered system of philosophy of mind, heavily influenced by Hegel and Giambattista Vico.
Aesthetics and literary criticism: He wrote influential works on aesthetics, particularly on the role of intuition and feeling in art.
History and historiography: Croce founded narrative historiography and emphasised the subjectivity and time-bound nature of every historical account.
Politics and freedom: He advocated a strong concept of freedom and saw this as a prerequisite for European unification.
Criticism of positivism: Croce positioned himself as an opponent of the prevailing positivism of his time.
Criticism of Marxism: He took a critical look at Marxism, as in his work Materialismo storico ed economia marxistica (1900).
Major works
Major works
‘Aesthetics: The Science of Expression, and General Linguistics’ (1902): This was the first part of his system of ‘philosophy of mind’ and a fundamental work on aesthetics.
‘Logic: The Science of Pure Concepts’ (1905): The second building block of his philosophical system.
‘Philosophy of Practice’ (1909): This volume contained the third and fourth parts of his system of ‘philosophy of mind’.
‘History of Europe in the nineteenth century’: This work is mentioned in the search results, although no specific details are given.
‘History as thought and as action": This work is also mentioned in the search results, without further details.
Influence
Influence
Croce developed a four-tiered system of philosophy of mind that was a major contribution to idealist philosophy. This system included intuition, logical reasoning, economic and moral action.
His works on aesthetics, in particular his work ‘Aesthetics as the Science of Expression and General Linguistics’ (1902), had a significant influence on art theory and literary criticism.
Croce made important contributions to the theory and writing of history. He founded narrative historiography and emphasised the subjectivity and time-bound nature of every historical account.
He positioned himself as an opponent of the prevailing positivism of his time, which influenced the philosophical debate.
His critical examination of Marxism, as presented in his work ‘Materialismo storico ed economia marxistica’ (1900), contributed to the debate on political and economic theories.
Why is he mentioned by Silo in ‘Historiological Discussions’?
Silo mentions Benedetto Croce here because he clearly distinguished between a purely enumerative, chronological historiography and a philosophy of history.
The ironic use of the term ‘chronicle’ by B. Croce for some purely enumerative historiographies, which Silo mentions here in passing, can be found, for example, in Croce's work ‘History Brought to the General Concept of Art’ (Naples 1893):
’...As I have already had occasion to remark elsewhere, the historical works of Leopold Ranke or Burckhardt or, to mention a few Italian examples, “Charles V” by De Leva and “Leo X” by N itti for a Hegelian not much more than a chronicle, historical works that represent the highest form of labour that the human mind can perform in order to give an accurate picture of past events.
And yet the question of the significance of history, which Hegel certainly was not the first to ask, is perfectly legitimate, but in no case does it belong to history, but to the philosophy of history. One topic of history is to narrate the course of events that led to the Italian movement for freedom and unification, which finally culminated in the events of 1859-70. A problem of the philosophy of history, on the other hand, would be to explore the development of the idea and God's plan according to the meaning of this event. The first topic is done justice by telling or creating a ‘chronicle’, if Mariano prefers this formulation."
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