GINO ZACCARIA

I participated as an external partner in the MEKNES (Mining Economic Knowledge from Non-Economic Sources) project, funded by the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano for the period 2015-2018 (47,000 euros). Other partners: Faculty of Computer Science at the Free University of Bolzano; University of Regensburg; Department of Human and Social Sciences, Cultural Heritage of the National Research Council (CNR); Merano Academy. Project leader: I. De Gennaro. Abstract: In light of the global economic crisis of the past years, economic science has been challenged not only regarding its capacity for anticipating contingent economic events and responding to them effectively, but in its manner of conceiving, and, consequently, acting upon, economic phenomena in the first place. One of the criticisms that have been put forward is that classic economic theory is characterized by a reductive approach to reality. The present project explores the potential of the humanities, supported by advanced digital technologies, in view of a fundamental reflection on the economic sphere. It aims at outlining ways that contribute to widening viz. redefining the scope of economic knowledge beyond the borders of contemporary scientific economics by unearthing and systematically tapping non-economic, in particular philosophical and literary, sources of economic thinking thanks to an integrated qualitative-quantitative approach that brings together expertise from philosophy, ethical economics and computer science.