観念論としての自由主義

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and revise the traditional interpretation of the political thought of Benedetto Croce first proposed by Norberto Bobbio and described by Giuseppe Galasso. According to this interpretation, Croce revised his political thought in order to confront the fascist regime because the logic of real politics, on which he had insisted during the Great War, meant that he could not criticize Fascism. The traditional interpretation maintains that, on the rise of Fascism, Croce came to lose faith in real politics and to shift emphasis onto an ethical criticism in order to justify the moral values of the liberal regime in the Kingdom of Italy. The paper suggests an alternative interpretation that Croce recognized his own political sympathy towards the Kingdom of Italy but did not criticize Fascism in direct support of the Kingdom. Neither did he convert his philosophy for political reasons; rather, he constructed conceptions of liberty and decadence, which were based on his original philosophy, and used them to analyse contemporary politics and criticize Fascism as a decadent regime.