Ugo Spirito

Ugo Spirito (September 9, 1896, Arezzo – April 28, 1979, Rome) was an Italian philosopher. At first a fascist political philosopher and subsequently an idealist thinker, he was also an academic and a university teacher.

Early life Spirito undertook academic study in law and philosophy. He was initially an advocate of positivism. In 1918, whilst attending Sapienza University of Rome, he abandoned his position to become a follower of the actual idealism of Giovanni Gentile. By the age of 22, he was a self-proclaimed fascist and actualist. This belief in integral corporatism was sometimes equated with a commitment to common ownership, and he represented the left wing of fascism by supporting corporatism as a means of mass nationalisation and was the butt of criticism from other fascists who accused him of Bolshevism. Spirito's economically left-wing ideals did not come to fruition in Fascist Italy and in the later years of fascism fell out of favour with Benito Mussolini.

Academic career Outside of his involvement in fascist politics, Spirito held professorships at the University of Pisa, University of Messina, University of Genoa, and at Rome itself. Initially, his academic attention was taken up with economics and criminal law, but, later in his career, he became more interested in philosophical questions. In terms of publications, he served as editor of the Giornale Critico della Filosofia Italiana and the Enciclopedia Italiana, and as joint director of the Nuovi Studi di Diritto, Economica e Politica.