Abstract

The purpose of this article is to retrace the three phases that have characterized the intellectual function of Guido de Ruggiero, in a comparison with Croce’s absolute historicism. Initially we will focus on the problematic dimension of «variant identity», that is the first and original theoretical approach of the author ofHistory of European liberalism; after which we will try to identify the moment of emancipation from Gentilian philosophy of the «act» and also the simultaneous adhesion to the so-called «romantic neo-illuminism».