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 has also been an academic and a university teacher.
Spirito undertook academic study in law and philosophy.[1] He was initially an advocate of positivism although in 1918, whilst attending Sapienza University of Rome, he abandoned his position to become a follower of the Actual IdealismofGiovanni Gentile.[2] By the age of 22 he was a self-proclaimed fascist and actualist.[2]
Spirito's particular interest in fascism was corporatism and he came to discuss the subject in depth through the journal Nuovi Studi di Diritto, Economica e Politica.[2] He wrote extensively on his favoured topic of 'integral corporatism', a system where ownership would be concentrated in the hands of workers rather than shareholders.[3] This belief in integral corporatism was sometimes equated with a commitment to common ownership.[4] Effectively therefore 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.[5] Spirito's economically left-wing ideals did not come to fruition in Fascist Italy and in the later years of fascism Spirito fell out of favour with Benito Mussolini.[2] Indeed, in 1942 he even attempted to publish a book of his theories, entitled Revolutionary War, but permission was denied by Mussolini.[6]
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.[2] Initially, his academic attention was taken up with economics and criminal law, but, later in his career, he became more interested in philosophical questions.[1] 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.[1]
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