Actual Idealism: The Philosophy of Fascism

Fascism is often dismissed as mindless, reactionary violence, a social movement without a real philosophy. But what if that conception is completely wrong? In this video, we dive deep into the mind of Giovanni Gentile, the man Mussolini himself called the "Philosopher of Fascism", as we uncover his system of Actualism-- The formal philosophy that provided the intellectual backbone for the Fascist state. This is the story of how a radical idealist philosophy charted a novel course to reshape reality itself. Subscribe if you enjoyed the content! #fascism #philosophy #history #socialism 0:00 Introduction 1:32 The Theoretical Foundations of Actualism 9:36 Humanism & the Pedagogy of the Self 13:37 Gentile's Mature System 17:27 From Philosophy to Fascism 19:45 Denouncing Liberalism, Mysticism & Marxism 23:08 Conclusion Harris, H. S. The Social Philosophy of Giovanni Gentile. University of Illinois Press, 1960. Internet Archive, digitized 2022, https://archive.org/details/socialphi... . Accessed 17 Oct. 2025. Gentile, Giovanni. The Theory of Mind as Pure Act. Translated from the 3rd ed., introduction by H. Wildon Carr, Macmillan and Co., 1922. Haddock, Bruce, and James Wakefield, editors. Thought Thinking: The Philosophy of Giovanni Gentile. Digital ed., Andrews UK Limited, 2015, www.andrewsuk.com . Accessed 17 Oct. 2025. Gregor, A. James. Giovanni Gentile: Philosopher of Fascism. Transaction Publishers, 2001.