Il silenzio dell’atto puro. Giovanni Gentile e la questione morale

The essay retraces Giovanni Gentile’s theoretical and political production from 1943 until his death on the 15th april 1944. The author investigates the reasons that led the philosopher to engage with the Italian Social Republic and underlines how Gentile, in his writings and speeches, always calls for national peace, in order to defend the country’s unity despite the ongoing war. Once Gentile’s political position is reconstructed, the second part of the paper deals with the most significant theoretical changes regarding the philosopher’s last volume Genesi e struttura della società. Then, the author considers a possible link between the anxiety or moral suffering that the philosopher might have felt facing the Nazi Fascist crimes and some pages of the volume in which there is a reflection on the conflictual nature of the social being and on the problem of death.