Giorgio Lanaro Personal Library

Donated in 2019 by the family of Professor Giorgio Lanaro, who taught History of Philosophy at the University of Milan, the collection is arranged into three sections for consultation:

• Section A. Works by Lanaro and studies dedicated to him
• Section B. Lanaro’s personal study materials
• Section D. Books listed in the course syllabi of Professor Lanaro’s lectures

Biography of Giorgio Lanaro

Giorgio Lanaro graduated in Philosophy at the University of Milan under the supervision of Professor Mario Dal Pra, with a dissertation on Karl Mannheim. However, his research soon turned towards Giovanni Vailati and Italian pragmatism. He edited Vailati’s correspondence and philosophical writings. He later focused on British philosophical thought, particularly liberal thinkers, publishing essays on Mill, Spencer and Whewell. He also studied Comte, especially the reception of the sociologist’s work in Britain and its social, scientific, religious and political implications.

After teaching at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, he held the post of Professor of History of Philosophy at the University of Milan from the early 1980s until his retirement in 2013.

For a deeper insight into Giorgio Lanaro’s thought, see Giambattista Gori’s article Dal pragmatismo Italiano alla filosofia britannica: Giorgio Lanaro e la storia critica della filosofia, in Il Protagora, 2020, pp. 411–418.

Bibliography by Giorgio Lanaro

• La teoria dell'induzione in William Whewell, Milano, Franco Angeli, 1987
• Il positivismo tra scienza e religione, Milano, Franco Angeli, 1990
• L'evoluzione, il progresso e la società industriale. Un profilo di Herbert Spencer, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1997
• L'utopia praticabile. John Stuart Mill e la scuola sansimoniana, Milano, Unicopli, 2003
• Un seguace inglese dei girondini. Liberalismo e rivoluzione in John Stuart Mill, Milano, Unicopli, 2007

Giorgio Lanaro edited:

• Giovanni Vailati, Epistolario, 1891-1909, Torino, G. Einaudi, 1971
• Giovanni Vailati, Scritti filosofici, Napoli, Rossi, 1972