From Facts to Words
From Facts to Words

From Militia Party to Fascist Totalitarianism

Author(s): Emilio Gentile
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, History
Published by: Central European University Press
Keywords: totalitarianism;
Summary/Abstract: Plato counted the farmer-philosopher Myson of Chen among the Seven Sages of Greece, and the Oracle of Delphi declared him one among the wisest of all Greeks. Yet very few traces of his thought survive. Among these rare fragments, one confirms his wisdom: “We should not investigate facts by the light of words, but words by the light of facts.” More than to philosophers, Myson’s maxim ought to be suited to historians, who study the genesis and development of past human experiences, which almost always entail new words and concepts—hence new arguments. These new words are used by the people directly affected in order to name and describe their experiences, and later to pass them down to posterity.

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