Giovanni Gentile Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Ernesto G. Caserta

Critical Essay by Ernesto G. Caserta

SOURCE: “Gentile's Educational Theory: A Revaluation,” in Italian Quarterly, Vol. XVIII, No. 70, Fall, 1974, pp. 20-36.

In the following essay, Caserta posits that Gentile's educational theories were based in spiritualism and argues that they continue to be relevant.

The educational theory of Giovanni Gentile¹ was born of a strong faith in man and felt with the force of a religion, a mission aiming to accomplish the regeneration of the Italian people and of the whole of mankind. School was thought to be a sacred temple where souls are made, the entire world a place of soul-making. The teacher, in fact, was often exhorted to become the new apostle, the missionary of a new religion, the religion of the Spirit. It is commonplace to recognize in Gentile's ideological program the continuation of the spirit that animated the Italian Risorgimento, the patriotic apostolate of Mazzini: “pensiero e azione,” but the broader...
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