Besides articles and essays in American and English magazines and reviews, the following works of Croce have been translated into English: the four volumes of the Filosofia dello Spirito, the essay on Hegel, the Essence of Æsthetics, and the essays on Ariosto, Shakespeare, and Corneille, by Douglas Ainslie; the essay on Vico, by R. G. Collingwood, and the essays on Historical Materialism, by C. M. Meredith. But the English or American student of Croce ought to rely as little as possible on translations; the reading of the Italian text will be found comparatively easy, on the basis of a good acquaintance with Latin or with French. The labour entailed by the surmounting of the first difficulties will be largely repaid by the advantages gained in coming into direct contact with Croce's thought, and by the acquisition of at least a reading knowledge of Italian.
For the vast critical literature on Croce, scattered through the literary and philosophical reviews of Europe and of America during the last twenty years, we are compelled again to refer the reader to Castellano's book. We shall only mark out Croce's own autobiographical notes, the Contributo listed above, which, however, having been printed for private circulation only, is not generally accessible except in the French translation printed in the Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, XXVI, pp. 1-40. The following are the only books which give a general view of Croce's thought: G. Prezzolini, Benedetto Croce, Naples, 1909; E. Chiocchetti, La filosofia di B. Croce, Florence, 1915; H. Wildon Carr, The Philosophy of B. Croce, London, 1917. The first is an able, but very cursory sketch; the second examines Croce's philosophy from the standpoint of neoscholasticism; the third is an ample summary written by a distinguished writer well acquainted with the various currents of modern thought. Each of them ought to be read with a critical and discriminating eye.
In the English-speaking world, Croce's fame rests emphatically on his æsthetics, and its applications to literary criticism. His influence on English and American critical thought has already gone much deeper than a mere list of writings on his theories would show; especially in England, his ideas are, so to speak, in the air, and appear in many writers who have no direct knowledge of his work. The best exposition of this phase of his philosophy is to be found in E. F. Carritt's book, The Theory of Beauty, 1914, chap. XIV. The writings of A. B. Walkley, and of J. E. Spingam, contain the most vigorous prosecution of his thought as applied, respectively, to English and to American scholarship and criticism.
For the general history of Italian thought, to which many a reference is made in the course of this book, the best helps, besides Croce's essay on Vico, and B. Spaventa, La filosofia italiana, recently reprinted, Bari, 1909, are the historical works of Giovanni Gentile, and especially his Storia della filosofia italiana, Milano, n. d. Gentile is one of the most profound and earnest modern European thinkers, and it is desirable that his theoretical works, similar in tendency to, but widely divergent in temper from those of Croce, should become better known to the Anglo-Saxon world. Two of his books, La Riforma dell' Educazione and Teoria generale dello Spirito, are soon to appear in English. Croce's judgment on Gentile's Actual Idealism is expressed in Una discussione tra filosofi amici, in Conversazioni Critiche, II, pp. 67-95. But a complete understanding of the vital relations between the two thinkers can be gathered only through an adequate knowledge of both Croce's and Gentile's work.
INDEX
A priori synthesis, [157], [199]
Absolute, [156]
Abstractions, [292]
Accademia Pontaniana, [45]
Action, thought versus, [188];
volition identified with, [194]
Activity, æsthetic and practical,
relations, [126]; theoretical and
practical, [117]
Æsthetic criticism, [135], [136]
Æsthetic personality, [282]
Æsthetic principle, [303]
Æsthetic production, [124]
Æsthetic standards, [137], [138]
Æsthetic value, [128]
Æsthetics, [100]; Croce's theory,
[49]; German, [63], [65]; hedonistic
theories, [127]; importance
in Croce's thought, [63];
theories and doctrines, [118];
Vico's influence on Croce, [53]-[54]
Agnosticism, [263]
American philosophy and culture, [21]
Aristotle, [215]
Art, as expression, [108]; concept,
[49], [116]; history as an art, [47];
literary and rhetorical criticism
of, [137]; morality and, [121], [126],
[279]; object, [123], [127];
science and, [53]; technique and,
[130]; universality, [277]
Artist's personality, [282]
Arts, particular, [132]
Asceticism, [213]
Avenarius, [144]
Beauty, [49]; as an end in itself,
[123]; natural, [51], [127]; objective, [127]
Becoming, [151], [206]
Bergson, Henri, [171], [295]; on free
will, [198]; resemblance to Croce, [200]
Biography, [59], [61], [282]
Bruno, Giordano, [33], [35], [151],
[185], [293], [294]
Byron, [140]
Campanella, Tomaso, [33], [35]
Capitalist society, [77], [81]
Carducci, Giosuè, [23], [26]
Chronicle, [257]
Classicism, [281]
Classification, [156]
Comte, Auguste, [179]
Concept, [101], [105]; as a unity of
distinctions, [149]; expression
and, [154]; identity of pure concept
with individual judgment, [156];
language and, hi; logical, [145],
[146]; pure concept, [141], [146],
[160]; two forms, [155];
universal, particular and
singular, [150]
Conceptual fictions, [146]
Consciousness, [190], [206]
Contemporaneity, [255]
Content and form, [108], [109]
Copernicus, [15]
Creation, [286], [288]
Critic, [287], [288]
Critica, La, [95], [247]
Criticism, æsthetic, theory, [135];
history and, [274]; monographic
method, [283]; technique and,
[130]; see also Literary criticism
Criticism of life, [139]
Croce, Benedetto, activities in
1900-1910, [93]; æsthetic theory,
[49]; approach to philosophy
and method of work, [28];
bibliography of works, [105]; birth
and early life, [3]; first philosophical
essay, [45]; fundamental
discoveries, [303]; intellectual
activity from 1910 onward,
[247]; later life, [15]-[16]; mental
characteristic, [87]; pragmatism,
[296]; spirit and distinction, [68];
travels, [13]; war attitude, [248]
Culture, American, [21];
contemporary European, [18];
Italian, [17]
Cusanus, [151]
D'Annunzio, Gabriele, [9], [27];
Croce's difference from, [68]
Dante, ix, [26], [122], [139], [252]
De Sanctis, Francesco, [23];
Croce's debt to, [64], [283]
Descartes, [36], [39]
Dualism, [170], [183], [195], [244]
Duty and pleasure, [210], [213]
Economic activity, [207]
Economic moment, [211], [214]
Economic principle, [303]
Economic society, [225]
Economic theory of science, [167]
Economics, [72], [100]; ethics and,
[212]; history and, [71]; Marxism
and general economic science,
[77]; philosophy of and science
of, [215]
Education, ideal, [205]; secondary,
in Italy, [5]
Einfühlung, [128]
Empathy, [128]
Empiricism, [178]
Engels, Friedrich, [71], [73]
England, contemporary culture, [18]
Error, [297]; forms, [175], [178], [184];
function, [302]; theory, [173]; value
and function of, [185]
Eternity, [209], [265], [283]
Ethical activity, [208]
Ethical principle, [218], [221]
Ethics, [100]; economics and, [212];
meditations on, [9]
Evil, function, [302]; good and, [200];
sanction, [203]; unreality, [202]
Evolution, [206]
Evolutionism, [295]
Expression, [128]; concept and,
[154]; identification with intuition, [106];
language as, [110];
meaning of the word, [107]
Faith, [174], [177]
Filosofia dello Spirito, [94], [243],
[246]; résumé of the system, [243]
Form and content, [108]-[109]
France, contemporary culture, [18]
Freedom and art, [126]
Freedom of the will, [198]
Galileo, [35]
Gaspary, Adolf, [26]
Genius, [108]; taste and, [135]
Genres, theories of, [133]
Gentile, Giovanni, [69], [96], [166],
[308]-[309]
Germany, contemporary culture,
[19]; philosophic errors, [180]
Hedonism and art, [127]
Hegel, [24], [25], [74], [142], [143];
Croce's criticism of, [152];
Croce's relation to, [31];
dialectic process in Hegel and in
Croce, [151], [180]; monograph
on, [95]; on philosophy and history, [166]
Hegelianism, [67], [69], [70]
Herbart, J. F., [9]
Historical method, [20]
Historicism, [182]
Historiography, [254]
History, an art or a science? [47];
chronicle and, [257]; contemporary, [255];
criticism and, [139], [274]; Croce's
tentative definition, [54]; Croce's
theory, growth, [161]; divisions, [165];
economics and, [270]; humanity,
[270]; identity with philosophy,
[163], [265], [287]; monographic
method, [286]; object, [270]; of
man and of nature, [271];
philological, [259]; philosophy of,
[180]; poetical, [261]; positivity,
[269]; problem of, [13], return
to, and elaboration of the theory,
[247]; rhetorical, [261]; science
and, [168]; special histories, [271];
spirit as history, [258]; theory
of, [253]; thought and, [262],
[265]; two meanings of the word,
[253]; universal, [264], [265]
Idealism, [41]; transcendental, [290]
Ideals, function, [202]
Immanentism, [100]-[101], [152]
Immortality, [206]
Impressionism, [281]
Individual, society and, [226];
universal and, [222]
Individual judgment, [155]
Individuality, [204]
Industrial revolution, [76]
Inquisition, [177]
Inspiration, [123], [132]
Intellect, [148]
Intention, action and, [162]; volition
and, [194]
Intuition, [101]; Croce's use of
the word, [112]; identification
with expression, [106]; kinds,
[107]; lyrical character, [114]
Intuitive consciousness, [102]
Intuitive knowledge, limits, [104], [105]
Judgment, æsthetic, [136];
individual, [155]; kinds, [155], [156];
practical, [196]
Jus naturale [232]
Kant, [37], [61], [142], [143], [182]; ethics, [83]
Knowledge, forms, [101], [159]; will and, [193]
Labriola, Antonio, influence on
Croce, [8]; on Marxism and
materialism, [71]
Language, law and, [237]; origin
and nature, [110], [280]; technique
of, [134]
Law, definition, [228]; language
and, [237]; mutability of laws,
[231]; philosophy of, [227], [236];
social and individual, [229]; use
of laws, [233]
Law of nature, [232]
Legalism, [234]
Liberty and necessity, [199]
Literary criticism, definition, [58];
problem of, [57]; three phases, [60]
Literary critics and art, [137]
Literary genre, [133]
Logic, [67], [81], [100], [106], [244];
function in Croce's system, [141]
Logical concept, [145]-[146]
Mach, E., [144]
Machiavelli, [83], [215],
Marxism, [21]; Croce's interest,
[71]; influence on Croce, [215];
morality and, [82]
Materialism, historical, [71];
criticism and interpretation, [75]
Mathematical thought, [171], [217]
Mathematicism, [179]
Mechanists, [170]
Metaphysics, [157], [268]
Methodology, philosophy as, [268]
Moral concepts, [66]
Moral standards, [202]
Moralism, abstract, [211]
Morality, [208], [223]; art and, [121],
[126]; Marxism and, [82]; utility
and, [212]
Mysticism, [183]
Myth, [182]
Mythologism, [182]
National prejudices, [176]
Nationality, [232]
Natural laws, [230]
Natural rights, [232]
Natural sciences, [167]
Naturalism, [33], [40], [291]
Naturalistic method, [169]-[170]
Nature, [169], [206]; beauty in, [127];
history of, [271]; law of, [232];
philosophy of, [180]; spirit and, [181]
Necessity and liberty, [199]
Objectivity, [164]
Opposites, [152]
Oratory, [280]
Pareto, V., [84]
Pascoli, Giovanni, [27]
Passions, [203], [297]
Personality, [204]; æsthetic, [282]
Philology, [19], [60]-[61], [259]
Philosophy, as the pure concept,
[160]; Croce's approach to, [28];
Croce's first essay, [45]; development, [186];
history and, [14]; identity with history,
[163], [165], [265], [287]; method, [92];
pseudo-scientific, [167]; religion and,
[182]; systematic character, [161]
Philosophy of mind, [93]; growth
of the system, [87]
Philosophism, [180]
Plato, [151], [182]
Platonism, [290]
Pleasure, art and, [127]; duty and,
[210], [213]
Poetry, [26], [101], [280]; identity
with language, [111]
Poets, great, [252], [285]
Political science, [227]
Politics, [176], [214]
Positivism, [20], [68], [144], [179]
Practical activity, [148]; æsthetic
activity and, [126]; affirmation
of, [188]; distinctions, [207]; forms,
[189]; philosophy of, [196];
scepticisms about, [189], [190]
Practical judgment, [196]
Practical principles, [230]
Pragmatism, [296]
Progress, [293]; truth and, [295]
Prose, [280]
Pseudo-concepts, [146]
Pseudo-scientific thought, [179]
Psychology, [172]
Punishment, [235]
Puritan, [235]
Realism, [41], [292]
Reality, [157], [164], [169], [186], [293];
dualistic, [179]
Reason, [148], [192]
Relativity, theory of, [179]
Religion, [192]; Croce's, [5]-[6];
myth and, [182]; philosophy
and, [182]-[183]; philosophy
identified with, [224]
Religious principles, [219]
Renaissance, [34]-[35], [260], [293];
philosophy of, [33]
Rhetoric, [134]
Rhetorical categories, [133], [138]
Rolland, Romain, [249]
Rousseau, J. J., [232], [281]
Russell, Bertrand, [249]
Scepticism, [183]
Schopenhauer, Arthur, [182]
Science, Croce's theory, [172];
distinction from art, [53]; economic,
[215]; economic theory of, [167];
history and, [168]; history as a
science, [47]; sciences and, [292];
superstition and, [180]
Scholarship, [10], [13]
Schools of criticism, [59]
Socialism, [72], [75], [79], [82]
Society, economic, [225];
philosophical concept, [226]-[227]
Sociologism, [48]
Sociology, [52], [79], [172], [227]
Sorel, Georges, [84]
Spaventa, Bertrando, [3]-[4], [19];
Croce's relations with, [68]
Spaventa, Silvio, [4], [7]
Spencer, [47], [179]
Spinoza, [36], [185]
Spirit, [246], [247], [295], [301]; as history, [258]
Spiritual activity, [118], [189], [301];
four forms, [100]
Spiritualism, [33], [40], [68]
Standard, [202]; æsthetic, [137]
Syndicalism, [84]
Synthesis, a priori, [157], [199]
Tactile values, [128]
Taste and genius, [135]
Technique, art and, [130];
criticism and, [130]; ordinary idea
and consequent errors, [131]
Textual criticism, [60]
Thought, [157], [164], [174]; action
versus, [188]; history and, [262],
[265]; non-thought and, [173];
truth and, [174]; unity, [87], [266]
Tolerance, [177]
Transcendentalism, [290]
Translation, [125]
Truth, actuality of, [300]; as
activity and history, [301];
conversion to, [184]-[185]; Croce's
conception, [298]; progress and, [295];
progress in, [186]; thought and,
[174]; what is truth? [289]
Typical, the, [122]
Unity, [246]; of distinctions [149];
of thought, [87], [266]
Universal, [221], [230], [243], [266], [301]
Universal history, [264]
Universal language, [237]-[238]
Universal laws, [219]
Universality, [150]
Utilitarianism, [209], [218], [220], [235]
Value, [128], [196], [298]; practical, [200]
Vico, Giovanni Battista, [33], [293],
[294]; Croce's relation to, [40]; his
humanism, [38]; influence on
Croce's æsthetics, [53]-[54];
metaphysics, [75]; monograph on, [95];
on error, [177]; on poetry, [101]
Vitalists, [170]
Volition, [193]; action identified
with, [194]; intention coincident
with, [194]; passions and,
[203]; see also Will
War, Croce's attitude toward, [248]
Will, [117], [126], [148], [188], [296];
freedom of, [108]; its past in errors,
[175]; knowledge and, [193]; struggle
of, [203]; practical activity;
see also Volition