Humanism of Labor and Humanism of Thought. Criticism and Development of an Actualistic Assumption

According to Gentile’s actualism, an identity nexus links the concept of thinking, the concept of labor and the concept of humanity. Following this identity link, though, human labor could never be a practical action of transformation of things in the world. It would rather be the absolute creation of the world itself. As a matter of fact, the thought for actualism is the creation of its own content. However, it is not possible to uphold this thesis. The activity of thinking, indeed, is not the creation of the thought objects, but rather, it is their manifestation or the testimony of their presence. The thought which human beings can never quit is, therefore, the thought which is the manifestation of the things in the world, not their absolute production. If the thought is conceived along these lines (opposite to Gentile’s thesis), labor, thought and humanity are linked by an implication rather than an identity correlation. Without thinking, there is neither humanity nor labour. But labour is not the only human activity. For this reason, we find it unavoidable to uphold the concept of humanism of thought, rather than the one of humanism of labor’s.