In re-reading a famous debate that took place in the Fifties between Benedetto Croce and a young Enzo Paci, we can focus once again on the role that the theme of individual existence, or individuality tout court, actually played in Croce's thought, naturally, qualifying that the individuality which interests us here is the personal one of the single. In fact, the debate
between Croce and Paci offers a double possibility, not only of exploring the role that individual existence plays in Croce's thought, but also of explaining a problem which is still important today. They both feel the need to question the other of thought, ek-sistence. Perhaps the debate between existentialism and historicism can be reduced, in essence, to this problematical theoretical question.