 Ortega’s view that “historical thinking proceeds with respect to human phenomena”, which combined with his notion of the vital dimensions of “historical reason”, reveals some of the affinities in their historical thought. Croce and Ortega both viewed human life as embodying an essentially historical process within which the realm of human reality is perceived and understood. Historical knowledge is found in the flow of the historical process, and knowledge of this very process provides an essential understanding of human reality. Where history, for Croce, consists in the “inseparable synthesis of individual and universal”, history, for Ortega, embodies the “inexorable chain” of human experiences and is constituted by the synthetic function of “historical reason”. In this connection, both historicist and rationalist elements of coherence, for Ortega, were emphasized in his formulation of historicism. Traversing from philosophy to history and then back again to philosophy, Croce presented his systematic “Philosophy of the Spirit” as absolute historicism. He formulated his systematic treatment of the “Philosophy of the Spirit” in four volumes and devoted one volume of this general position to historical thought (Croce 1917 [1920: 60–61]). History, in this connection, provides the important function of synthesizing the theoretical and practical levels of human activity, the universal and the particular, as well as thought and action. From the point of view of these levels of human activity, historical knowledge provides information about what actually happened on particular occasions at a particular place and under a clearly specified period of time. History encompasses not only concrete individual developments and concepts of individuality, but also encompasses the “universal”. For Croce, individuality constitutes the historical process within which an advance towards the universal occurs and, in this context, the general is identified with what the individual experiences directly. The historical process becomes the expression of the “inseparable synthesis of individual and universal” and, as such, establishes for Croce the “identity of philosophy with history”. Croce viewed any philosophical problem identical to historical synthetic judgments when restored to the historical context that gave rise to the question we attempt to answer. As the synthesis of the individual and the universal, history possesses the most complete form of knowledge. Indeed, for Croce, as well as for Collingwood-- the philosopher with whom Croce’s name often has been associated-- “history is thought” (Collingwood 1948 [1956: 215,245, 247–48]). From the theoretical perspective, thought establishes connections between sensory-perception, intuition, and concepts, whereas history synthesizes the aesthetic, logical and practical levels of human activity. Theoretic activity consists of knowledge while practical activity is characterized by volition, and thereby within this perspective knowledge is the precondition of action (Croce 1917 [1920: 60–61; 94–107]; 1909 [1913: 33]).