Paolo Santori
Biographic Data
| ID | 5922691 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Paolo Santori |
| GIVEN NAMES | Paolo |
| FAMILY NAME | Santori |
| SIGNATURE | SANTORI P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Tilburg University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5705-0461 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Against Spiritual Leadership in (For-Profit) Organizations
Spiritual leadership has become a prominent approach within the family of horizontal and non-hierarchical leadership styles, aiming to integrate employees’ spiritual needs into organizational life. While existing literature often highlights benefits such as increased well-being, cooperation, and performance, this paper critically examines the ethical and conceptual implications of spiritual leadership in for-profit contexts. It argues that curren…
Domination vs. Persuasion
Adam Smith argued that human beings naturally desire to dominate others and that they enjoy it. He showed how ancient masters, landlords, and economic actors in some eighteenth-century English and colonial markets were driven by their love of domination against their own economic interests. Recent scholarship argues that to fully understand the role libido dominandi plays in Smith’s thought, love of domination should be associated with the broade…
Part‐Time for All
Augustinian Roots of Rawls's Second Principle of Justice
The debate over John Rawls's two principles of justice is ongoing. Among the many controversies, there is a hierarchal relationship within the second principle of justice. Scholars have long discussed the meaning and desirability of the lexical priority of the principle of fair equality of opportunity over the difference principle. The present article explores this topic from an unusual and underdeveloped angle. The controversy will be analyzed t…
Adrian Pabst and Roberto Scazzieri, The Constitution of Political Economy
Benedetto Croce wrote that “every true story is contemporary history” (Croce, 1921, 13). He meant to say that every scholar studying the past is doing it from an interest and a point of view that pertains to the present. This is also valid for the history of ideas, where we look back in search of questions, answers, and perspectives to address contemporary issues. The book The Constitution of Political Economy by Pabst and Scazzieri follows this …
Careocracy or isocracy? A feminist alternative to the neoliberal meritocratic discourse
The message of neoliberal meritocratic discourse, prevalent today and spreading throughout Western societies, is simple: free, unregulated markets are meritocratic. This is a way of placing a veil of social justice (i.e., markets reward merit) over neoliberal ideas. The worrisome consequences attached to it are the moral legitimation of inequalities and the reduction of social value to market value. The dimension of care is among the many values …
The Curious Case of the Three Adam Smiths
On the 300 th anniversary of his birth, one thing can be said about Adam Smith: entire libraries (real and digital) have been filled with analyses of his thought. This trend does not seem to be on the verge of ending soon. Everybody hopes to uncover the “real Smith.” This article has a more modest double aim. First, it intends to delineate three interpretations, or portraits, of Adam Smith’s thought in part of the recent literature: the self-inte…
The theological stems of modern economic ideas
Voluntarism is a medieval theological doctrine that argues that God’s will takes precedence over God’s intellect and explores the consequences on the relation between Creation and the Creator. We show that Duns Scotus’s theological voluntarism had an important impact on his economic teachings. Moreover, we suggest that it opened an ontological path that fostered the theorisation of modern economic ideas. Voluntarism undermined the Aristotelian-Th…
In praise of the persona economica
We live in the era of the commons, and we experience the tragedy of their daily overexploitation (Hardin, 1994 ). This is also true for so-called global commons, such as the oceans, biodiversity, and outer space. The most challenging tragedy we are currently facing is undoubtedly the deterioration of the biosphere (Dasgupta, 2021 ) due to climate change. Although over six billion “players” take part in the global tragedy of the commons—“a game th…
Idleness and the Very Sparing Hand of God
In the eighteenth-century Scottish and British cultural context, idleness was a central issue for religion, literature, art, and philosophy. This paper analyzes the reflections of David Hume and Adam Smith on idleness and commercial society. Hume advanced his most provocative view on the subject in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779), where idleness is represented as the endowment made by the “very sparing hand” of the “author of nat…
The other invisible hand. The social and economic effects of theodicy in Vico and Genovesi
This paper explores the implications for modern economic thought of the debate on Theodicy, i.e., the coexistence of a good, almighty God and worldly evils. In the 17th century, this problem was raised by Pierre Bayle. The analysis focuses on the 18th century Italian school of Civil economy represented by Antonio Genovesi. Our argument is that Genovesi, and Giambattista Vico before him, reacted to Bayle’s Manichaean and Atheistic view on theodicy…
The Illusion of Merit and the Demons of Economic Meritocracy
The Economic Principle of Political Liberalism
In his 2018 book, The Community of Advantage, economist Robert Sugden sets out his Principle of Mutual Benefit. This paper investigates the role that Sugden’s principle occupies in Rawls’ Political Liberalism. Would it be chosen by contracting parties in the Original Position and with what implications? We firstly show the potential complementarities of Rawls’ and Sugden’s approaches, integrating them in a broad philosophical framework. Second, w…
Donum , exchange and common good in Aquinas
This paper explores the role of gift (donum) and common good in Thomas Aquinas’ (c1225–1274) economic teachings. The result is a theory of economic agency, rooted in the concept of mutual assistance (reciprocity), under which Aquinas’ account of just price is considered. The paper also relates Aquinas’ thought to the work of the “civil economist” Antonio Genovesi (1713–1769). Genovesi’s account of the market as a place of virtue and mutual assist…
Domination vs. Persuasion
Adam Smith argued that human beings naturally desire to dominate others and that they enjoy it. He showed how ancient masters, landlords, and economic actors in some eighteenth-century English and colonial markets were driven by their love of domination against their own economic interests. Recent scholarship argues that to fully understand the role libido dominandi plays in Smith’s thought, love of domination should be associated with the broade…
Donum , exchange and common good in Aquinas
This paper explores the role of gift (donum) and common good in Thomas Aquinas’ (c1225–1274) economic teachings. The result is a theory of economic agency, rooted in the concept of mutual assistance (reciprocity), under which Aquinas’ account of just price is considered. The paper also relates Aquinas’ thought to the work of the “civil economist” Antonio Genovesi (1713–1769). Genovesi’s account of the market as a place of virtue and mutual assist…
The Economic Principle of Political Liberalism
In his 2018 book, The Community of Advantage, economist Robert Sugden sets out his Principle of Mutual Benefit. This paper investigates the role that Sugden’s principle occupies in Rawls’ Political Liberalism. Would it be chosen by contracting parties in the Original Position and with what implications? We firstly show the potential complementarities of Rawls’ and Sugden’s approaches, integrating them in a broad philosophical framework. Second, w…
In praise of the persona economica
We live in the era of the commons, and we experience the tragedy of their daily overexploitation (Hardin, 1994 ). This is also true for so-called global commons, such as the oceans, biodiversity, and outer space. The most challenging tragedy we are currently facing is undoubtedly the deterioration of the biosphere (Dasgupta, 2021 ) due to climate change. Although over six billion “players” take part in the global tragedy of the commons—“a game th…
Idleness and the Very Sparing Hand of God
In the eighteenth-century Scottish and British cultural context, idleness was a central issue for religion, literature, art, and philosophy. This paper analyzes the reflections of David Hume and Adam Smith on idleness and commercial society. Hume advanced his most provocative view on the subject in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779), where idleness is represented as the endowment made by the “very sparing hand” of the “author of nat…
The other invisible hand. The social and economic effects of theodicy in Vico and Genovesi
This paper explores the implications for modern economic thought of the debate on Theodicy, i.e., the coexistence of a good, almighty God and worldly evils. In the 17th century, this problem was raised by Pierre Bayle. The analysis focuses on the 18th century Italian school of Civil economy represented by Antonio Genovesi. Our argument is that Genovesi, and Giambattista Vico before him, reacted to Bayle’s Manichaean and Atheistic view on theodicy…
The Illusion of Merit and the Demons of Economic Meritocracy
Careocracy or isocracy? A feminist alternative to the neoliberal meritocratic discourse
The message of neoliberal meritocratic discourse, prevalent today and spreading throughout Western societies, is simple: free, unregulated markets are meritocratic. This is a way of placing a veil of social justice (i.e., markets reward merit) over neoliberal ideas. The worrisome consequences attached to it are the moral legitimation of inequalities and the reduction of social value to market value. The dimension of care is among the many values …
The Curious Case of the Three Adam Smiths
On the 300 th anniversary of his birth, one thing can be said about Adam Smith: entire libraries (real and digital) have been filled with analyses of his thought. This trend does not seem to be on the verge of ending soon. Everybody hopes to uncover the “real Smith.” This article has a more modest double aim. First, it intends to delineate three interpretations, or portraits, of Adam Smith’s thought in part of the recent literature: the self-inte…
The theological stems of modern economic ideas
Voluntarism is a medieval theological doctrine that argues that God’s will takes precedence over God’s intellect and explores the consequences on the relation between Creation and the Creator. We show that Duns Scotus’s theological voluntarism had an important impact on his economic teachings. Moreover, we suggest that it opened an ontological path that fostered the theorisation of modern economic ideas. Voluntarism undermined the Aristotelian-Th…
Part‐Time for All
Augustinian Roots of Rawls's Second Principle of Justice
The debate over John Rawls's two principles of justice is ongoing. Among the many controversies, there is a hierarchal relationship within the second principle of justice. Scholars have long discussed the meaning and desirability of the lexical priority of the principle of fair equality of opportunity over the difference principle. The present article explores this topic from an unusual and underdeveloped angle. The controversy will be analyzed t…
Adrian Pabst and Roberto Scazzieri, The Constitution of Political Economy
Benedetto Croce wrote that “every true story is contemporary history” (Croce, 1921, 13). He meant to say that every scholar studying the past is doing it from an interest and a point of view that pertains to the present. This is also valid for the history of ideas, where we look back in search of questions, answers, and perspectives to address contemporary issues. The book The Constitution of Political Economy by Pabst and Scazzieri follows this …
Domination vs. Persuasion
Adam Smith argued that human beings naturally desire to dominate others and that they enjoy it. He showed how ancient masters, landlords, and economic actors in some eighteenth-century English and colonial markets were driven by their love of domination against their own economic interests. Recent scholarship argues that to fully understand the role libido dominandi plays in Smith’s thought, love of domination should be associated with the broade…
Against Spiritual Leadership in (For-Profit) Organizations
Spiritual leadership has become a prominent approach within the family of horizontal and non-hierarchical leadership styles, aiming to integrate employees’ spiritual needs into organizational life. While existing literature often highlights benefits such as increased well-being, cooperation, and performance, this paper critically examines the ethical and conceptual implications of spiritual leadership in for-profit contexts. It argues that curren…
Economics (11 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Law (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Neoclassical economics (6 works) · Positive economics (4 works) · Adam smith (3 works) · Economic Justice (3 works)