Books by Gianni Vattimo

We think it is wise to accept reality, rather than fight for something that does not exist or might never be. But in Of Reality, Gianni Vattimo condemns this complacency, with its implicit support of the status quo. Instead he urges us to never stop questioning, contrasting, or overcoming reality, which is not natural, inevitable, or objective. Reality is a construct, reflecting, among other things, our greed, biases, and tendencies toward violence. It is no accident, Vattimo argues, that the call to embrace reality has emerged at a time when the inequalities of liberal capitalism are at their most extreme. Developed from his popular Gifford Lectures, this book advances a critical approach that recovers our interpretive powers and native skepticism toward normative claims. Though he recognizes his ideas invite charges of relativism, the philosopher counters with a discussion of truth, highlighting its longstanding ties to history and social circumstance. Truth is always contingent and provisional, and reason and reasonableness are bound to historical context. Truth is therefore never objective, and resistance to reality is our best hope to defeat the indifference that threatens the scope of freedom and democracy.

In this introduction to the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, Vattimo uses Heideggerean and cultural-critical perspectives to reassess the work and thought of Nietzsche.

Gianni Vattimo, a leading philosopher of the continental school, has always resisted autobiography. But in this intimate memoir, the voice of Vattimo as thinker, political activist, and human being finds its expression on the page. With Piergiorgio Paterlini, a noted Italian writer and journalist, Vattimo reflects on a lifetime of politics, sexual radicalism, and philosophical exuberance in postwar Italy. Turin, the city where he was born and one of the intellectual capitals of Europe (also the city in which Nietzsche went mad), forms the core of his reminiscences, enhanced by fascinating vignettes of studying under Hans Georg Gadamer, teaching in the United States, serving as a public intellectual and interlocutor of Habermas and Derrida, and working within the European Parliament to unite Europe.Vattimo's status as a left-wing faculty president paradoxically made him a target of the Red Brigades in the 1970s, causing him to flee Turin for his life. Left-wing terrorism did not deter the philosopher from his quest for social progress, however, and in the 1980s, he introduced a daring formulation called "e;weak thought,"e; which stripped metaphysics, science, religion, and all other absolute systems of their authority. Vattimo then became notorious both for his renewed commitment to the core values of Christianity (he was trained as a Catholic intellectual) and for the Vatican's denunciation of his views. Paterlini weaves his interviews with Vattimo into an utterly candid first-person portrait, creating a riveting text that is destined to become one of the most compelling accounts of homosexuality, history, politics, and philosophical invention in the twentieth century.

Over the course of his career, Gianni Vattimo has assumed a number of public and private identities and has pursued multiple intellectual paths. He seems to embody several contradictions, at once defending and questioning religion and critiquing and serving the state. Yet the diversity of his life and thought form the very essence of, as he sees it, the vocation and responsibility of the philosopher. In a world that desires quantifiable results and ideological expediency, the philosopher becomes the vital interpreter of the endlessly complex.As he outlines his ideas about the philosopher's role, Vattimo builds an important companion to his life's work. He confronts questions of science, religion, logic, literature, and truth, and passionately defends the power of hermeneutics to engage with life's conundrums. Vattimo conjures a clear vision of philosophy as something separate from the sciences and the humanities but also intimately connected to their processes, and he explicates a conception of truth that emphasizes fidelity and participation through dialogue.

Having lost much of its political clout and theoretical power, communism no longer represents an appealing alternative to capitalism. In its original Marxist formulation, communism promised an ideal of development, but only through a logic of war, and while a number of reformist governments still promote this ideology, their legitimacy has steadily declined since the fall of the Berlin wall. Separating communism from its metaphysical foundations, which include an abiding faith in the immutable laws of history and an almost holy conception of the proletariat, Gianni Vattimo and Santiago Zabala recast Marx's theories at a time when capitalism's metaphysical moorings-in technology, empire, and industrialization-are buckling. While Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri call for a return of the revolutionary left, Vattimo and Zabala fear this would lead only to more violence and failed political policy. Instead, they adopt an antifoundationalist stance drawn from the hermeneutic thought of Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, and Richard Rorty.Hermeneutic communism leaves aside the ideal of development and the general call for revolution; it relies on interpretation rather than truth and proves more flexible in different contexts. Hermeneutic communism motivates a resistance to capitalism's inequalities yet intervenes against violence and authoritarianism by emphasizing the interpretative nature of truth. Paralleling Vattimo and Zabala's well-known work on the weakening of religion, Hermeneutic Communism realizes the fully transformational, politically effective potential of Marxist thought.

With Western cultures becoming more pluralistic, the question of "e;truth"e; in politics has become a game of interpretations. Today, we face the demise of the very idea of truth as an objective description of facts, though many have yet to acknowledge that this is changing.Gianni Vattimo explicitly engages with the important consequences for democracy of our changing conception of politics and truth, such as a growing reluctance to ground politics in science, economics, and technology. Yet in Vattimo's conception, a farewell to truth can benefit democracy, exposing the unspoken issues that underlie all objective claims. The end of absolute truth challenges the legitimacy of policies based on perceived objective necessities protecting the free market, for example, even if it devastates certain groups or classes. Vattimo calls for a truth that is constructed with consensus and a respect for the liberty of all. By taking into account the cultural paradigms of others, a more "e;truthful"e; society freer and more democratic becomes possible. In this book, Vattimo continues his reinterpretation of Christianity as a religion of charity and hope, freeing society from authoritarian, metaphysical dogmatism. He also extends Nietzsche's "e;death of God"e; to the death of an authoritarian God, ushering in a new, postreligious Christianity. He connects the thought of Martin Heidegger, Karl Marx, and Karl Popper with surprising results and accommodates modern science more than in his previous work, reconciling its validity with an insistence that knowledge is interpretive. Vattimo's philosophy justifies Western nihilism in its capacity to dispense with absolute truths. Ranging over politics, ethics, religion, and the history of philosophy, his reflections contribute deeply to a modern reconception of God, metaphysics, and the purpose of reality.

First collected in Italy in 1985, Art's Claim to Truth is considered by many philosophers to be one of Gianni Vattimo's most important works. Newly revised for English readers, the book begins with a challenge to Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel, who viewed art as a metaphysical aspect of reality rather than a futuristic anticipation of it. Following Martin Heidegger's interpretation of the history of philosophy, Vattimo outlines the existential ontological conditions of aesthetics, paying particular attention to the works of Kandinsky, which reaffirm the ontological implications of art.Vattimo then builds on Hans-Georg Gadamer's theory of aesthetics and provides an alternative to a rationalistic-positivistic criticism of art. This is the heart of Vattimo's argument, and with it he demonstrates how hermeneutical philosophy reaffirms art's ontological status and makes clear the importance of hermeneutics for aesthetic studies. In the book's final section, Vattimo articulates the consequences of reclaiming the ontological status of aesthetics without its metaphysical implications, holding Aristotle's concept of beauty responsible for the dissolution of metaphysics itself. In its direct engagement with the works of Gadamer, Heidegger, and Luigi Pareyson, Art's Claim to Truth offers a better understanding of the work of Vattimo and a deeper knowledge of ontology, hermeneutics, and the philosophical examination of truth.

The debate over the place of religion in secular, democratic societies dominates philosophical and intellectual discourse. These arguments often polarize around simplistic reductions, making efforts at reconciliation impossible. Yet more rational stances do exist, positions that broker a peace between relativism and religion in people's public, private, and ethical lives.Christianity, Truth, and Weakening Faith advances just such a dialogue, featuring the collaboration of two major philosophers known for their progressive approach to this issue. Seeking unity over difference, Gianni Vattimo and Rene Girard turn to Max Weber, Eric Auerbach, and Marcel Gauchet, among others, in their exploration of truth and liberty, relativism and faith, and the tensions of a world filled with new forms of religiously inspired violence. Vattimo and Girard ultimately conclude that secularism and the involvement (or lack thereof) of religion in governance are, in essence, produced by Christianity. In other words, Christianity is "e;the religion of the exit from religion,"e; and democracy, civil rights, the free market, and individual freedoms are all facilitated by Christian culture. Through an exchange that is both intimate and enlightening, Vattimo and Girard share their unparalleled insight into the relationships among religion, modernity, and the role of Christianity, especially as it exists in our multicultural world.

This book by one of Europea s foremost contemporary philosophers is a concise and lucidly argued account of the meaning of hermeneutics for philosophy today. Vattimo argues that hermeneutics, understood in a general sense, has had a pervasive influence on contemporary philosophy and social thought.

aeo New in paperback, this is a major contribution to the highly topical post--modernity debates. aeo Gianni Vattimo is the leading Italian philosopher of post--modernism, and an expert on Nietzsche, Heidegger and Gadamer. aeo Vattimo presents a distinct philosophical position based on his well--known notion of 'weak thoughta .

Features essays on ethics, politics, and law. This book re-evaluates the meaning, values, and the idea of freedom in Western culture.

What has been the fate of Christianity since Nietzsche's famous announcement of the "e;death of God"e;? What is the possibility of religion, specifically Christianity, thriving in our postmodern era? In this provocative new book, Gianni Vattimo, leading Italian philosopher, politician, and framer of the European constitution, addresses these critical questions. When Vattimo was asked by a former teacher if he still believed in God, his reply was, "e;Well, I believe that I believe."e; This paradoxical declaration of faith serves as the foundation for a brilliant exposition on Christianity in the new millennium-an age characterized by a deep uncertainty of opinion-and a personal account of how Vattimo himself recovered his faith through Nietzsche and Heidegger. He first argues that secularization is in fact the fulfillment of the central Christian message, and prepares us for a new mode of Christianity. He then explains that Nietzsche's thesis concerns only the "e;moral god"e; and leaves room for the emergence of "e;new gods."e; Third, Vattimo claims that the postmodern condition of fragmentation, anti-Eurocentrism, and postcolonialism can be usefully understood in light of Joachim of Fiore's thesis concerning the "e;Spiritual Age"e; of history. Finally, Vattimo argues for the idea of "e;weak thought."e; Because philosophy in the postmetaphysical age can only acknowledge that "e;all is interpretation,"e; that the "e;real"e; is always relative and not the hard and fast "e;truth"e; we once thought it to be, contemporary thought must recognize itself and its claims as "e;weak"e; as opposed to "e;strong"e; foundationalist claims of the metaphysical past. Vattimo concludes that these factors make it possible for religion and God to become a serious topic for philosophy again, and that philosophy should now formally engage religion.

In this engaging book, Gianni Vattimo explores the theme of faith and religion which underlies much of his work.

Gianni Vattimo, one of Europe's most important and influential philosophers, has been a leading participant in the postwar turn that has brought Nietzsche back to the center of philosophical enquiry. This book explores the German philosopher's important works and discusses his views on the Ubermensch, time, history, truth, and hermeneutics.

aeo This is an important work of continental philosophy. Vattimo is widely recognized as the leading philosopher in Italy today, and his work has become very influential in the modernity--postmodernity debate. aeo Vattimo develops his own distinctive philosphical position, drawing on the work of Nietzsche and Heidegger.

In The Transparent Society Vattimo develops his own distinctive views on postmodernism and its philosophical and cultural relevance. Vattimo argues that the post--modern condition is linked to the development of the mass media and the diffusion of systems of communication.

I diskussion med tænkere som Nietzsche, Heidegger, Girard og Kierkegaard fremstiller den italienske filosof Vattimo, hvad den kristne arv kan betyde for en nutidig, postmetafysisk filosofi og hvad der ligger til grund for en udbredt fornyet interesse for religion

I Nihilisme og emancipation forsøger Gianni Vattimo at gentænke begreberne politik, etik og ret i den moderne verden, hvor uforanderlige principper er utænkelige. Nietzsche og Heidegger har efterladt sig et metafysisk tomrum, hvor Gud er død, og de absolutte ideologier er utroværdige. Udfordringen for nutidens filosoffer bliver derfor at opspore en teori omkring "det moderne", som bygger på hermeneutikkens uendelige fortolkningsmuligheder.Lov, ret og etik må konstrueres igennem forhandlinger, demokrati og konsensus. Kun således undgås den polarisering, som truer med at opdele verden i supermarkedskulturen på den ene side og fundametalismen på den anden.Med Vattimos politisk-filosofiske tilgang konfronteres flere brandaktuelle temaer i bogen, bl.a. kulturernes herkomst, Occidentens undergang og Europas rolle i fremtidens verdenssamfund.Bogen indeholder, ud over en udførlig bibliografi, en introduktion til Gianni Vattimos tænkning ved idéhistoriker Jens Viggo Nielsen.

I dag opfatter mange mennesker sig som religiøse, uden at de dermed nødvendigvis tilslutter sig den kristendom, der i Vesten igennem to årtusinder har været den dominerende religion. Bogen rejser ikke mindst spørgsmålet om, hvorvidt oplysningen, sekulariseringen og demokratiseringen, der satte ind for et par århundreder siden, virkelig har distanceret os fra arven fra den kristne religion, eller om sekulariseringen snarere må ses som en konsekvens af kristendommen selv.Hvis man ønsker et indblik i den filosofiske og idehistoriske baggrund for denne diskussion, så er Religionens fremtid og dens dialog mellem to af nutidens største filosoffer et godt sted at starte.