Croce e Gentile: elogio di un'amicizia

This article deals with the issue of the relationship between Croce and Gentile in an innovative perspective: besides and beyond their works, also the ‘individual’ and ‘existential’ dimension of the two authors is emphasized. The research is based on the theoretical conviction that, in Goethe’s words (taken up again by Dilthey and Meinecke), individuum est ineffabile. Three consequences derive from this principle: 1. a more accurate consideration of the dimension of the individual; 2. the questioning of the relation between individual, author, works; 3. the utilization – on a methodological level – of letters, diaries, private documents as well as of textual variants, i.e. what Croce used to call ‘scartafacci’. As a result, the relationship between Croce and Gentile takes on a new shape and, beside being situated in the framework of Italian history and of political contrasts, is reconsidered in its strictly philosophical and existentialist features, centering on the theme of ‘friendship’.