Ugo Spirito

Ugo Spirito (1896, Arezzo – 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.

Early life

Spirito 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 Idealism of Giovanni Gentile.^[1] By the age of 22 he was a self-proclaimed fascist and actualist.^[1]

Fascism

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.^[1] 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.^[2] This belief in integral corporatism was sometimes equated with a commitment to common ownership.^[3] Effectively therefore he repreresnted 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.^[4] 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.^[1] Indeed in 1942 he even attempted to publish a book of his theories, entitled Revolutionary War, but permission was denied by Mussolini.^[5]

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.^[1]

References

Works about Ugo Spirito in Italian

• Antonio Cammarana, Proposizioni sulla filosofia di Giovanni Gentile, prefazione del Sen.Armando Plebe, Roma, Gruppo parlamentare MSI-DN, Senato della Repubblica, 1975, 157 Pagine, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze BN 758951.
• Antonio Cammarana, Teorica della reazione dialettica : filosofia del postcomunismo, Roma, Gruppo parlamentare MSI-DN, Senato della Repubblica, 1976, 109 Pagine, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze BN 775492.