Gentile's philosophy is on the one hand unexpectedly simple, but on the other somewhat difficult to understand for those who are not well versed with German and Italian idealism. Gentile follows a certain current in Italian philosophy based on a "Fichte-ised" Hegel, but carries it to its extremes. For Gentile, the transcendental point of view is found in the reality of our thought when thought is considered not as a completed act but as an act-in-act, so to speak. This is probably the leit-motiv of Gentile's philosophy: the radical negation of the proposition that one can detach oneself from one's thought, even thoughts already thought. Thought is always in action, what he called "autoctisis".
Description:
Gentile's philosophy is on the one hand unexpectedly simple, but on the other somewhat difficult to understand for those who are not well versed with German and Italian idealism. Gentile follows a certain current in Italian philosophy based on a "Fichte-ised" Hegel, but carries it to its extremes. For Gentile, the transcendental point of view is found in the reality of our thought when thought is considered not as a completed act but as an act-in-act, so to speak. This is probably the leit-motiv of Gentile's philosophy: the radical negation of the proposition that one can detach oneself from one's thought, even thoughts already thought. Thought is always in action, what he called "autoctisis".