This book will offer a full reconstruction of the history of Theoretical Marxism in Italy between 1895 and 1935, based on a rigorous philological method. The starting term (1895) is marked by the publication of Antonio Labriola's first essay on historical materialism (In memory of Communist Manifesto); the final term coincides with the conclusion of the "Prison Notebooks" written by Antonio Gramsci. This book analyses the original character of the Marxist philosophy in Italy, which emerged by distinguishing itself from the "orthodoxy" of the Second and Third International. By delineating a significant chapter in the history of Marxism, the book will also propose a specific contribution to the history of Italian Philosophy, which is here studied in relation to the developments of European philosophy, beyond the traditional subdivisions of Positivism, Idealism and Marxism. Marcello Mustè is Associate professor of Theoretical Philosophy at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.

Autorentext

Marcello Mustè is Associate Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. He is a member of the Scientific Council of the Gramsci Foundation. His recent studies are addressed to the philosophy of Italian Marxism and in particular to the work of Antonio Gramsci.

Inhalt
Part I. From Labriola to Mondolfo

1. Antonio Labriola 

• Prehistory of the third essay

• Philosophy of praxis and the genesis of ideas

• Critical communism

• The rhythm of history

• Labriola's later writings2. Benedetto Croce

• Croce and Labriola

• Historical materialism as 'canon' and the 'elliptical comparison' 

• Utility and praxis3. Giovanni Gentile

• Between Labriola and Croce

• The critique of historical materialism and 'praxis overturned'

• Autopraxis

• 'Feeling' as praxis4. Rodolfo Mondolfo

• Marx and Feuerbach

• Friedrich Engels and historical materialism

• Lenin and the Russian revolution

• Mondolfo and GramsciPart II. Antonio Gramsci

5. The Philosophy Notes

• Preliminary Considerations

• Gramsci's return to Labriola

• The overturning of praxis (Gramsci and Marx)

• From Marx to Hegel

• The 'historical bloc'

• Materialism and idealism: the reality of the outside world

• Common sense

• The provisional nature of the philosophy of praxis

• Translatability6. The Notes on Dante

• The Cavalcante code

• The eleven notes on Dante

• Poetry and structure

• Aesthetics and catharsis7. The Anti-Croce

• Preliminary remarks on the 'Special' Notebooks

• Early considerations on the History of Europe, the origins of the Anti-Croce

• Hegemony of Croce?

• The 'dialectic of the distinct'

• The speculative 'reside' and fate of philosophy8. Praxis

• Hegemony and criticism

• Intellectuals

• The Modern Prince