Philosophy of Education in the «Rivista Pedagogica» (1908-1939)*
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Philosophy of education * in the «Rivista Pedagogica» (1908-1939) Marco Antonio D’Arcangeli Università degli Studi dell’Aquila Dipartimento di Scienze Umane Viale Nizza n. 14, 67100 - L’Aquila [email protected] 1. Philosophy of education in Italy in the early 20th century: the prevailing currents of thought At the beginning of the twentieth century in the Italian philosophical and pedagogical circle there were two main “poles” or “sides”. The first, in which Neo-Kantians and Positivists converged, was characterized by the re-working of Herbart’s pedagogy and its two-layered ethics/psy- chology structure and it strived to find a balance be- tween the two main philosophical currents that com- posed it and also aimed at affirming and consolidating: a) the epistemological superiority of empirical and ex- perimental sciences in the study of Man and Society; b) the freedom of man and absoluteness of values. The * This paper is a revised and expanded version of the speech, with the same title, delivered on August 21, 2014 at the 14th Biennial World Conference of the International Network of Philosophers of Education (Arcavacata di Rende Campus, Cosenza, August 20-23, 2014). EDUCAZIONE. Giornale di pedagogia critica, V, 1 (2016), pp. 67-90. ISSN 2280-7837 © 2016 Editoriale Anicia, Roma, Italia. DOI: 10.14668/Educaz_5105 Marco Antonio D’Arcangeli main voice of this “pole”, at the time called «anti- actual idealism front»1, was the «Rivista Pedagogica» (1908-1939) founded and directed by Luigi Credaro (1860-1939). Credaro, Professor of Pedagogy at the University of Rome from 1902 to 1935, was the “van- guard” of this current2: his successful book La peda- gogia di J. F. Herbart of which there were five edi- tions, from 1900 to 19353, played a major role in the revival of studies on the philosophy of Herbart in Italy4. This model, with which the philosophy/science rela- tionship in pedagogical knowledge was devised, is a forerunner of present-day «critical pedagogy»5, was hegemonic up until World War I, in parallel with the project that involved liberal-democratic modernisation of political and social life carried out by the Italian lib- eral statesman Giovanni Giolitti6, of which the model represented the corresponding and organic expression from the theoretical point of view, the point of view of school’s function and role and of the educational poli- cies that the same theoretical framework generated7. In 1 F. Cambi, L’educazione tra ragione e ideologia. Il fronte antidealistico della pedagogia italiana 1900-1940, Milan, Mursia, 1989. 2 M. A. D’Arcangeli, L’impegno necessario. Filosofia, politica, educazione in Luigi Credaro (1860-1914), Rome, Anicia, 2004; Id., Verso una scienza dell’educazione. I. La «Rivista Pedagogica» (1908- 1939), Rome, Anicia, 2012. 3 L. Credaro, La pedagogia di G. F. Herbart, Rome, Dante Alighieri, 1900. 4 I. Volpicelli, Herbart e i suoi epigoni. Genesi e sviluppo di una filosofia dell’educazione, Turin, UTET, 2003. 5 M. Muzi (Ed.), Pedagogia critica in Italia, Rome, Carocci, 2009. 6 E. Gentile, Le origini dell’Italia contemporanea. L’età giolittiana, Bari-Rome, Laterza, 2003; A. A. Mola, Giolitti. Lo statista della nuova Italia, Milan, Mondadori, 2003. 7 G. Chiosso, L’educazione nazionale da Giolitti al primo dopoguerra. Brescia, La Scuola, 1983; P. Guarnieri, Filosofia e scuola nell’età giolittiana, Turin, Loescher, 1980; M. Chiaranda (Ed.), Teorie 68 Philosophy of education in the «Rivista Pedagogica» (1908-1939) addition to acting as a developer and organising force of culture, Credaro also took direct action: he was a Member of Parliament since 1895, a leading figure of the Radical Party, and the Minister of Education from 1910 to 1914, and while in charge he managed to pass Law No. 487 of June 4, 1911, called the Credaro Daneo law thus including also the name of Edoardo Daneo, former Minister of Education, which moved control and administration of Italian primary schools from municipalities to central government (a reform which was crucial in eradicating illiteracy)8. The other view was represented by Giovanni Gen- tile’s neo-idealism. In 1902 Gentile founded, with Benedetto Croce, «La Critica», one of the most im- portant Italian philosophical journals of the Twentieth Century. Gentile was one of the leading forces in the revival of Hegelianism in the Italian culture of the cen- tury: a revival that evolved into hegemony after the First World War. The neo-idealism of Croce and Gen- tile became part of a strong front in unofficial and non- academic Italian culture, the so-called «culture of the journals» which included, among its leading figures, also Giovanni Papini and Giuseppe Prezzolini, with their irrational pragmatism, and the journals «Leonar- do» (1903-07) and «La Voce» (1908-16). This front, united, led a fierce polemic against positivism, not on- ly because of its scientism and materialism, but also for its Enlightenment roots and its democratic open- ings. The neo-idealism opposed the actions of the Gio- educative e processi di formazione nell’età giolittiana, Lecce, Pensa Multimedia, 2005. 8 E. De Fort, La scuola elementare dall’Unità alla caduta del fascismo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1996, pp. 199-309; C. Betti, La prodiga mano dello Stato. Genesi e contenuto della legge Daneo-Credaro (1911), Florence, Centro Editoriale Toscano, 1998. 69 Marco Antonio D’Arcangeli litti government and supported a decidedly elitist and conservative social-political model9. Gentile’s Hegeli- anist interpretation reprises Bernardo Spaventa’s 19th century theory (mentalism) and condenses all of reality in the act of thinking (actualism), thus merging peda- gogy with his philosophy of the Spirit, founding its identity while negating independence10. Over time, the theoretical differences within the idealist framework that Croce (with his theory of distinct) and Gentile shared, grew and evolved into two different, opposing political stances and ultimately Croce, after the Matteotti assassination in 1925, became one of the staunchest opposers to the fascist regime. Gentile, on the contrary, embraced and supported fascism, becom- ing one of its leading intellectuals: when, after the 9 For further in-depth research on philosophy in Italy at the turn of the 20th century one of the most important contributions comes from E. Garin (see below for some of his works). On the cultural debate in the Giolitti era see A. Asor Rosa, «La cultura (Dall’Unità all’età giolittiana)», in Storia d’Italia Einaudi, Dall’Unità a oggi, vol. XI, Turin, Einaudi, 1975. 10 For further interpretations of actualism see S. Natoli, Giovanni Gentile filosofo europeo, Turin, Bollati Boringhieri, 1989; A. Del Noce, Giovanni Gentile. Per una interpretazione filosofica della storia contemporanea, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1990. Among Gentile’s works on pedagogy and school, we regard as worth mentioning: Sommario di pedagogia come scienza filosofica. I. Pedagogia generale, Bari, Laterza, 1913; II. Didattica, Bari, Laterza, 1914; La riforma dell’educazione. Discorsi ai maestri di Trieste, Bari, Laterza, 1920; Educazione e scuola laica, Florence, Vallecchi, 1921 (which includes the important work Il concetto scientifico della pedagogia, 1901). Gentile’s texts are also available in Opere Complete (editrice Le Lettere, Firenze). On the relationship between philosophy and pedagogy/school in Gentile, see G. Spadafora (Ed.), Giovanni Gentile. La pedagogia. La scuola. Atti del Convegno di Pedagogia (Catania, 12-13-14 dicembre 1994) e altri studi, Rome, Armando, 1997; F. Cambi - E. Giambalvo (Eds.), Rileggere Gentile tra “filosofia dell’e- sperienza” e “pedagogia critica”, s. l., Fondazione Nazionale Vito Fazio-Allmayer, 2009. 70 Philosophy of education in the «Rivista Pedagogica» (1908-1939) «March on Rome» Mussolini was appointed head of government Gentile became Minister of Education, and he later devised and developed his well-known «reform» of the Italian school (1922-1924) which Mussolini called «the most fascist of all fascist re- forms»11. Gentile kept supporting fascism even after the regime’s fall on September 8, 1943: he joined the Republic of Salò forces and kept fighting until his cap- ture and later execution by Partisan forces in Florence in 194412. Although Gentile’s support of Fascism brought his “School” a huge influence first and a heavy criticism later, his approach to the identity of pedagogy is still important today. In this paper I will briefly analyse and describe the Neokantian-positivist philosophy of education, so far held considered of lesser status by the Italian historiog- raphy of pedagogy which has for long been influenced by theoretical and historiographical paradigms of Ideal- ism, Marxism and Catholic Personalism (as well as by a biased and somewhat distorted interpretation of Dew- ey’s theory of education and educational knowledge)13; whereas, considering also the current status of the philosophical and pedagogical debate, the Neokantian- positivist philosophy of education surely deserves a more thorough analysis and interpretation. 11 G. Gentile, Il fascismo al governo della scuola (novembre ‘22-aprile ‘24), Palermo, Sandron, 1924. On the «reform» and its relationships with Fascist school policies see J. Charnitzky, Fascismo e scuola. La politica scolastica del regime (1922-1943), Scandicci (Florence), La Nuova Italia, 1996, pp. 21-191. 12 For a detailed biography of Giovanni Gentile see G. Turi, Giovanni Gentile. Una biografia, Turin, UTET Libreria, 20062. 13 G. Spadafora, «The Sources of a Science of Education by John