This book takes the reader on a philosophical journey into the core of modern finance, bringing to light the ideas, values, and contradictions that shape Wall Street and, through it, the global economy. It shows how markets have moved beyond their original role as instruments of exchange to become autonomous systems of power and meaning—systems that do not merely mirror economic and social realities, but actively participate in producing them.

Bringing together philosophy, economics, and history, A Philosophical Walk Down Wall Street explores how financial markets generate knowledge, how mathematical models come to possess authority, and why crises continue to recur in spite of increasing technological sophistication. Through rich case studies, ranging from the 2008 financial crisis to algorithmic trading, the book argues that concepts such as efficiency, risk, and value are not simply neutral analytical tools, but embody substantive philosophical claims about the nature of the world.

Emiliano Ippoliti (Ph.D) teaches Logic and Philosophy of Science at the Department of Philosophy, Sapienza University of Rome.  His research is primarily developed along two main lines. The first concerns logic and the philosophy of mathematics, with a particular focus on heuristics in mathematics and science, the logic and philosophy of discovery, and, more broadly, the epistemology of the formal sciences. In this area, he founded the Logic & Knowledge Network in 2002.
The second line of research concerns the philosophy of finance, with particular attention to the conceptual, methodological, and epistemological dimensions of financial theory and practice. In this field, he founded Phinance: The Philosophy and Finance Network (2020) and has since led it as the first major network devoted to the philosophy of finance.