Contact Info
E-mail: nunzioali@gmail.com
NUNZIO ALÌ
CEPS FULL RESEARCHER
Nunzio Alì is an Assistant researcher at the Centre for Ethics, Politics, and Society, where he leads a project funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) on a conception of distributive justice of power. He is also an Assistant Professor of political philosophy in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Catania, Italy, where he also serves as co-coordinator of the Horizon-MSCA Staff Exchanges research consortium Justice in the XXI Century: A Perspective from Latin America (JUSTLA).
His research interests include theories of justice, economic inequality, theories of power and domination, human rights, and climate justice. He is particularly concerned with the relationship between economic inequality and political power in liberal democracies, and with how this relationship should shape our understanding of social and distributive justice. His first book, How Rich Should the 1% Be? Proportional Justice and Economic Inequality (Routledge, 2022) explores these themes in depth.
A former Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Political Science at the University of São Paulo, he earned his PhD in Philosophy from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, in 2018. He was also a Visiting Researcher at the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina), the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, the Chaire Hoover d’éthique économique et sociale at the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium), and at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain).
Professional category
- Full Researcher (without exclusivity)
Education
- 2023. Italian National scientific qualification as Associate Professor in Political Philosophy (14/A1), valid from 05/06/2023 to 05/06/2034.
- 2018. PhD in Philosophy (Ethics and Political areas) at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil), 4-year program. Dissertation Title: ‘Economic Inequality and Proportionality: How Rich Should the 1% Be?’
- 2012. MA in Global Politics and Euro-Mediterranean Relations (Department of Political and Social Sciences) at the University of Catania (Italy), 2-year program. Dissertation Title: ‘The Institutional Interpretation of Human Rights: Critical Remarks.’
Other Info
- ORCID: 0000-0002-8270-978X
- CiênciaVitae: 4E1F-A48C-8689
Research interests
- Theories of Justice
- Power and Domination
- Distributive Theory
- Economic Inequality
- Critical Theory
- Human Rights
- Climate Justice
- Political Philosophy
Institutional positions
2025-. Full Researcher at the Centre for Ethics, Politics and Society.
2024. Assistant Professor (RTDa) in Political Philosophy (14/A1), 3-year fixed-term contract – Department of Political and Social Sciences – University of Catania (Italy).
2020–2024. Postdoctoral researcher in Political Philosophy – Department of Political and Social Sciences – University of Catania (Italy). The position was suspended due to the COVID-19 academic break from 1/12/2020 to 15/02/2022.
2018–2020. Postdoctoral researcher in Political Philosophy (FAPESP Grant: 2018/04606-4) – Department of Political Science – University of São Paulo (Brazil). Research project: ‘Economic Inequality and a Pluralistic Distributive Approach.’
Books
2022. How Rich Should the 1% Be? Proportional Justice and Economic Inequality. London/New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003189428
Book chapters
2025. “Taking economic liberties seriously: a liberal argument for limiting economic inequality,” In Foroni, Cristina, Delamar Dutra, and Joel Thiago Klein (Eds.) Concepts and Conceptions of Freedom: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Developments, Berlin/Münster: LIT Verlag, pp. 283-315.
2022. w/ Alessandro Pinzani. “Taking Economic Inequality Seriously. Kantian Views,” In: Caranti, L. – Pinzani, A. (Eds.) Kant and the Problem of Politics: Rethinking the Contemporary World. London: Routledge, pp. 87-110.
2020. w/ Luigi Caranti. “Redistribution, Recognition and Pluralism: A Rawlsian Criticism of Fraser,” In: Celentano, D. – Caranti, L. (Eds.) Paradigms of Justice: Redistribution, Recognition, and Beyond. London: Routledge, pp. 163-183.
Articles
2026. (forthcoming). w/ Diana Piroli . “Climate Change and Future Generations: Fairness, Political Catastrophe, and the Preservation of Just and Stable Institutions Over Time”, Rivista Italiana di Filosofia Politica.
2025.(forthcoming). “Emission Reductions Without Addressing Economic Inequality? Proportional Justice as a Path to a Fair Green Transition”, Philosophy and Public Issues.
2023. “Levando as Liberdades Econômicas a Sério: Um Argumento Liberal para Limitar a Desigualdade Económica,” Ethic@ – An International Journal for Moral Philosophy, 22(2), 913-943.
2022. “Fair Equality of Opportunity and the Place for Individual Merit in a Liberal Democratic Society”, Brazilian Political Science Review, 16(1), e0003-1/26.
2021. w/ Luigi Caranti. “How Much Economic Inequality is Fair in Liberal Democracies? The Approach of Proportional Justice”, Philosophy & Social Criticism, 47(7), 769-788.
2021. w/ Luigi Caranti. “The Limits of Limitarianism: Why Political Equality is not Protected by Robeyns’ Democratic Argument”, Politica & Società, 1, 89-116.