L’“ircocervo” e i suoi antenati. Radici austro-tedesche di una metafora crociana tra filosofia e battaglie accademiche

Abstract: The “Hircocervus” and Its Ancestors. The Austro-German Roots of a Crocean Metaphor between Philosophical Theory and Academic Struggle
The metaphor of the ircocervo is well known as Benedetto Croce’s polemical tool against illegitimate conceptual mixtures. This essay traces the philosophical genealogy of his commitment to “distinction” back to the Herbartian tradition of Bearbeitung der Begriffe. From Herbart’s Göttingen through Prague (Exner), Leipzig (Drobisch, Strümpell), and Vienna (Zimmermann), this methodological imperative reached Southern Italy. The paper examines how this inheritance shaped Croce’s critique of Marxism, and his critique of philosophy of law culminating in the 1907 Riduzione della filosofia del diritto alla filosofia dell’economia. While philosophically grounded, Croce’s insistence on distinction also served a strategic function in early twentieth-century cultural battles, helping Croce and Gentile redefine philosophy’s boundaries and assert neo-idealism’s autonomy.