Introduction

This volume explores Pareto’s astonishingly varied intellectual contribution from a range of disciplinary perspectives, the main intention being to show why it remains relevant and should not simply be consigned to the history of ideas. Pareto was an almost obsessive polymath, whose refusal to recognise disciplinary boundaries has few parallels. It might even be ventured that he deserves the categorisation of universal genius, commonly reserved for such as Leonardo da Vinci, owing to the sheer breadth and diversity of his talent and enduring insight.