Abstract

This essay shows how Gentile's 'method of immanence' informed his distinctive approach to the history of philosophy. By reference to Gentile's influential studies of thinkers such as Rosmini, Gioberti and Vico, Haddock shows how a method of internal criticism that he had employed throughout his work on history of philosophy could be distilled as an appropriate method for philosophy itself. Gentile always denied that a disciplined approach to philosophy could be attained without serious engagement with the history of philosophy. In important respects, he saw them as aspects of a single enterprise