Recent moral philosophers have had little to say about Giovanni Gentile's 'actual idealism, which is widely dismissed as a kind of obscurantist Hegelianism used to conceal flimsy justifications for the state s total impunity over questions of morality and truth. While Gentile is increasingly recognised as a major figure in twentieth-century Italian culture, actual idealism itself has yet to be given a full and impartial philosophical appraisal.

Giovanni Gentile and the State of Contemporary Constructivism represents the first book-length treatment of actual idealist moral theory. Part I...