I haven’t read those works, but I have a collection of letter from Evola to Giovanni Gentile with a long introduction by Stefano Arcello, in which those works are put in context.
It seems that, to learn the German language, Evola read deeply in the various writings of German idealistic philosophy. Of course, at the same time, philosophy in Italy was dominated by the idealists Benedetto Croce and Giovanni Gentile, both of whom Evola was familiar with.
The Teoria is the more important of the two, and they are both developments of his Saggi sull’Idealismo magico. Evola criticizes idealism, not to refute it in favor of some other philosophical position, but rather because it does not go far enough. For Evola, it is too rationalistic and abstract. For example, he claims that the Transcendental “I” of the philosophers is an abstraction, whereas the Real “I” (the goal of the UR group) is experiential. He mocks the philosophical ideal of the “university professor” to which he oppose the types of the rishi, yogi, the Christ, and the Buddha.
In the Teoria, Evola’s goal is the passage from philosophy to wisdom (sofia), of which philosophy is only the “abstract scheme”.
-----Original Message-----
From:
evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com [mailto:evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of skyegamble89
Sent: Thursday, June
02, 2005 5:23 PM
To: evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [evola_as_he_is] Absolute
Individual
Has anyone here read either of Evola's early books
"Fenomenologia
dell"Individuo
Assoluto" or "Teoria dell"Individuo Assoluto"? I'm
planning on
translating
"Fenomenologia" for myself this summer, and a summary
would
be
greatly
appreciated.
Thank you,
Skye J. Gamble