Giovanni Gentile and the State of Contemporary Constructivism

James Wakefield

Description

This book presents Giovanni Gentile's actual idealism as a radical constructivist doctrine for use in moral theory. The first half describes the moral theory that Gentile explicitly identifies with actual idealism, according to which all thinking, rather than an exclusive domain of 'practical reason', has a moral character. It is argued that after Gentile's turn to Fascism in the early 1920s, this theory is increasingly conflated with his political doctrine. This entails several major changes that cannot be squared with the underlying metaphysics. The second half of the book develops a more plausible account of Gentilean moral constructivism based on the pre-Fascist idea of reasoning as an internal dialogue. Comparisons and contrasts are drawn with contemporary constructivist doctrines, as well as theories employing dialogical conceptions of reason. The internal dialogue is presented as a device enabling the thinking subject to make objective judgments about real-world problems despite the impossibility of her occupying a fully objective standpoint. Thus actual idealist moral theory is offered as an example of constructivism at its most radical, inviting advocates of less radical varieties to reassess the foundations on which their theories are built.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Western philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 12 février 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781845407988
• Langue: English

Extrait

Title Page
Giovanni Gentile and the State of Contemporary Constructivism
A Study of Actual Idealist Moral Theory
James Wakefield



Publisher Information
Published in the UK by
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Exeter
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Copyright © James Wakefield, 2015
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission, except for the quotation of brief passages in criticism and discussion.



Acknowledgements
This book began life as a PhD thesis. It was researched and written between October 2010 and July 2013 under the supervision of Prof. Bruce Haddock and Dr. Peri Roberts at the School of European Languages, Translation and Politics at Cardiff University, and was successfully defended in a viva examination in September 2013. Aside from some additions to the introduction and conclusion, some superficial alterations to the formatting and the addition of a subtitle, the published book is substantially the same as the thesis manuscript.
Throughout my years as a research student I was conscious of how lucky I was to be able to undertake this unusual project and spend several years thinking, reading and writing about challenging ideas. I am grateful to the many people who supported me on that long road. For brevity’s sake, I shall thank just a few in particular: Bruce, for his unwavering enthusiasm, valuable advice and genuine liberalism; Peri, for his useful suggestions, searching questions and coffeehouse diagrams, which steered me toward a constructivism that was Gentilean but not strictly Gentile’s; the Arts and Humanities Research Council, which kept me fed and watered, suited and booted throughout; James Connelly, Peter Sutch and David Boucher, who made up the panel at my viva examination; Jenny Hulin, chiefly for tolerating my endless questions, though also for helping out in a hundred ways besides; and my parents, who, whether or not they remember, actually suggested all of this in the first place. Their kindness, indulgence and toleration were invaluable to me while this book was being written. To those others who listened to, read or commented upon my ideas as they grew into the thesis: please accept my sincerest thanks for your advice and your patience.
Still more thanks are in order. When I began this research project I could not yet read Italian. Now this obstacle has been overcome, and throughout the book I have used my own translations of quotations from Gentile while acknowledging my debts to other translators where appropriate. When quoting sources in other languages, such as Descartes’ French, I have submitted unabashedly to the expertise of others. For helping me achieve the monumental task of learning a little Italian, I should thank especially Angelo Silvestri, Marco Catizone and all at Dilit International House, Matteo Fabbretti, Fabio Vighi, Giuseppe Vatalaro, Mark Donovan, Paul Furlong, the Coppa family in Rome and, once again, Bruce Haddock. Any and all errors in the translations I have presented are, of course, my own.
For allowing me access to some of the resources used in writing this book, I should like to acknowledge the assistance of the staff at Cardiff University’s Arts and Humanities Library, La Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, the Main Library at the University of Birmingham, and the Information Commons at the University of Sheffield. Others at Edinburgh University Library, the British Library and Oxford University’s Bodleian Library provided resources through inter-library loans. For their valuable roles in helping me identify and track down resources, I am grateful to Alessandro Amato, Lucy Andrew, Tom Barker, Michael Baxter, David Boucher, Daniela Coli, Brian P. Copenhaver, Rebecca Copenhaver, Elise Rietveld, Richard Gale, Sarah Gallimore, Graeme Garrard, Bruce Haddock (again!), Greg Ireland, Kevin Jones, James Lenman, Richard North, Davide Orsi, Antonio Giovanni Pesce, Mary Raschella, Peri Roberts, Sabine Schulz, Richard Shorten, Peter Sutch, Hade Turkmen, Jean Wakefield, Michael Wakefield and Howard Williams. To some of these people I owe debts of thanks that are now several years overdue. I can only hope that, if any of them come to read this, they will excuse my tardiness in giving them proper acknowledgement.
J.R.M. Wakefield
Friday 31 January 2014



Summary
This book presents Giovanni Gentile’s actual idealism as a radical constructivist doctrine for use in moral philosophy. The first half describes the moral theory that Gentile explicitly identifies with actual idealism, according to which all thinking, rather than an exclusive domain of ‘practical reason’, has a moral character. It is argued that after Gentile’s turn to Fascism in the early 1920s, his moral theory is increasingly conflated with his political doctrine. This entails several major changes that cannot be squared with the central tenets of the theory. The second half of the book develops a more plausible account of Gentilean moral constructivism based on the pre-Fascist idea of reasoning as an internal dialogue. Comparisons and contrasts are drawn with contemporary constructivist doctrines, as well as theories employing dialogical conceptions of reason. The internal dialogue is presented as a device enabling the thinking subject to make objective judgements about real-world problems despite the impossibility of her occupying a fully objective standpoint. Thus actual idealist moral theory is offered as an example of constructivism at its most radical, inviting advocates of less radical varieties to re-assess the foundations on which their theories are built.



Chapter 1
Introduction
This book represents an attempt to bring together two topics whose commonalities have, for a variety of reasons, remained unexplored until now. The first of these topics is the moral theory of Giovanni Gentile (1875–1944), the Sicilian philosopher who devised the doctrine of ‘actual idealism’. The second is ‘constructivism’, a family of theories concerned with the relationship between knowledge and truth. Most of the modern-day philosophers discussed in this book, and especially those who explicitly identify themselves as constructivists, present their theories in the analytic style typical of contemporary Anglophone philosophy. By this I mean that they are narrowly concerned with establishing clear arguments and not, as authors working in the ‘continental’ tradition are sometimes supposed to be, with hermeneutics, history and holistic evaluations of great (or not-so-great) minds. I mean to present actual idealism as a thoroughgoing constructivist doctrine whose moral theory is plausibly grounded in the phenomenological experience of actual thinking. The Gentilean constructivism developed herein offers an account of how practical reasoning is to proceed, and this, while distinctive, shares several of its main features with the more radical varieties of Kantian constructivism put forward in recent decades.
There is already a large body of literature about constructivism, as well as a smaller, though still considerable, body of literature about Gentile. At least one existing book deals specifically with Gentile’s conception of thinking as the act by which reality is constructed, a theme that recurs prominently throughout his works. [1] To date, however, the two relevant groups of specialists - intellectual historians interested in Gentile and philosophers interested in constructivism as a distinctive class of moral theories - have continued to plough their respective fields without paying attention to developments in the other. None of the major English-speaking constructivists refer to Gentile, and none of the Gentile specialists have applied actual idealism to the questions that the constructivists have set themselves. Nor has there been a systematic analytic study of actual idealist moral theory. The present book should be considered an attempt to bridge these hitherto separate areas of study. The project may be deemed a success if it can be shown that each has something to offer the other.
1 . Defining ‘constructivism’
The central thesis of this book is divided into two parts. Part I explains and criticises the tenets of actual idealism. In doing so it shows how Gentile makes sense of practical reasoning and enduring moral commitments without surrendering the theory’s basis in a single subject’s act of thinking. It also suggests some modifications to make the theory self-consistent. Part II engages directly with contemporary constructivism, showing how a corrected version of Gentile’s theory is able to resolve some of the problems that recent theorists have encountered. Since in the English-speaking world constructivism is far better known than actual idealism, and since my approach owes more to contemporary analytic normative theory than to the continental style of Gentile’s usual interpreters, it seems appropriate now to defer any further discussion of actual idealism until after it is clear what constructivism is and what problems there might be with it. With those established, we can consider which of these problems Gentile’s theory can help us address.
It is remarkably difficult to extrapolate from the particular examples of constructivism, or of theories classified as such by their authors and subsequent commentators, a fully generic, clear-cut and widely accepted definition of the term, specifying precisely what qualifies for inclusion in this class of theories. To complicate matters further, the term has come into use relatively recently, at least in connection with moral and political philosophy, but is regularly applied to earlier authors who are alleg