Benedetto Croce

Italian philosopher and historian who was the dominant intellectual figure in early 20th-century Italy — developing an idealist aesthetics and historicism and maintaining anti-Fascist independence under Mussolini.

Aesthetic as Science of Expression: intuition and expression are identical — art is the externalization of intuition. Philosophy of the spirit: aesthetics, logic, economics, and ethics as four distinct forms of spirit. Historical method: all history is contemporary history. Maintained his liberal anti-Fascist journal La Critica throughout the Fascist period. What Is Living and What Is Dead in the Philosophy of Hegel: a selective Hegel reclamation.