Thursday, 22 November 2018

Stefano Pelizzari, philosophy graduate, wins Demattè Prize

A scholarship to continue his research studies on Dante Alighieri’s thought at Columbia University, with philosophers Achille Varzi and Teodolinda Barolini

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“Perhaps you did not think I was a logician!”, says the devil to Guido da Montefeltro in a famous episode of Dante’s Inferno, in Canto XXVII, devoted to the sin of fraudulent counsel. Dante describes the devil as a fine logician and thinker, who is capable of understanding and explaining cause-effect relationships with sound reasoning.

This is only one of the many clues in Dante’s works that highlight his intuitions in the field of abstract reasoning in uncertain conditions. The ability to compare the costs and benefits of hypothetical actions and to correctly calculate the consequences of personal and collective choices is still essential today. And this is especially so in financial economies, where it is fundamental to control uncertainty through logics and rationality.

It seems therefore that Dante had something to say in this field too, as an early economist who included in his works formal reasoning methodologies taken from science and mathematics, as it occurs today.

That is precisely the view defended by Stefano Pelizzari in his philosophy dissertation, which earned him the Demattè Prize 2018.

Thanks to the 25 thousand euro scholarship, Pelizzari will be able to continue his studies in the United States, at the Department of Philosophy of Columbia University, home to Achille Varzi and Teodolinda Barolini, highly regarded professors of philosophy.

By awarding the scholarship to a philosopher - for the first time after so many economists and sociologists - the Demattè Prize acknowledges the originality of the approach, which is not centred exclusively on literature and philosophy but extends to logics and decision theory, disciplines that are important to our economy and to business decision-making practices within the market. 

Stefano Pelizzari will be awarded the prize during a ceremony that will take place on Monday, 26 November, at 10.00 in the morning at ISA’s headquarters in viale Adriano Olivetti 36 in Trento. 

The president of Premio Demattè, Michele Andreaus, and a few members of Associazione Amici Demattè, including Roberto Nicastro and Rudi Bogni (in conference call from London), will attend the event.

The ceremony will provide the occasion for the presentation of the new edition of the Prize, another 25 thousand euro scholarship that will be awarded to a Master’s or Doctoral graduate from the University of Trento or resident in Trentino, who will use it carry out research work or to further specialize abroad.

Works from all discipline areas will be welcomed, provided that they involve aspects of economics, management or the business sector, in a broad sense. Those focusing on the following areas are of particular interest: entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, social innovation and social care, fintech and financial innovation, social cohesion, sustainability and renewable energy, humanities approach and philosophical basis to support economic and management decisions, search for new economic paradigms and business models.

The press release includes comments from Stefano Pelizzari.