Among the reasons for what might be called the ‘utopian crisis’ in post-modern culture, where the very idea of a utopia is the subject of suspicion and where its claim to perfection is held to blame for every fanatical ideology, may well be found the close, perhaps excessively close link that the utopian idea has always maintained with metaphysics. I am referring here to the notion of metaphysics as elaborated by Heidegger. Many defenders of metaphysics still refuse Heidegger's critique, but (...) it remains nevertheless the case that the definition of metaphysics as disregarding being-itself (das Sein) in favour of process-of-being (das Seiende), or of an objective ground of being that reason could grasp and to which it should adhere when interacting with knowledge and praxis, constitutes at least a generally accepted point of departure for discussion. (shrink)

Gianni Vattimo is renowned for his doctrine of weak thinking, which argues for a dialogical non‐fundamentalist approach to philosophy, an hermeneutically oriented critique of metaphysics and modernism devoted to unmasking privileged positions of authority and power, a deconstruction of Western philosophy as a pathway to nihilism, and finally a development of hermeneutics as a postmodern defense of Christianity in secularized form. He recognizes in hermeneutic philosophy the double effectiveness of philosophical engagement. Vattimo repositions Nietzsche's nihilism with debates concerning modernity (...) and postmodernity. Nietzsche's analysis of negative and affirmative nihilism sustains Vattimo's signature distinction between strong and weak thought. Vattimo's social and political perspective has clear theological undertones. The outcome of unending individual qualitative transformation is not arrival in a promised land but graceful acceptance of what humans are: hermeneutic creatures whose essence resides in tireless negotiation and transformation. (shrink)

This article has as its theme the democracy as fundamentalism, or the democratic fundamentalism. Its main objective is the recognition that the thinking about democracy can itself be fundamentalist, implying that not only religious fundamentalisms are a threat to contemporary democracy. Its method and object are the interpretation of texts by two contemporary philosophers who do not usually talk to each other, the Italian Gianni Vattimo and the French Jean-Luc Nancy. The essay's thesis is the affirmation of democratic thinking (...) as a form of fundamentalism, insofar as it fulfills certain conditions established by the two thinkers analyzed. These conditions are, in the language of the aforementioned philosophers, the framing of democracy under the so-called strong thought, or its subsumption to a metaphysical way of thought, so that it becomes incapable of self-criticism and its necessary reinvention. Thus, it is expected to contribute to the construction of a self-critical vision of democracy through dialogue with aspects of thought little known of important philosophers and also through the dialogue between philosophy and theology as emancipatory ways of knowing. (shrink)

This article presents the thesis the weak thinking and nihilistic vocation of Gianni Vattimo's hermeneutics, unlike the criticisms and misunderstandings underwent, does not necessarily imply the assumption, defense and proposal of a philosophical and hermeneutical irrationality. Based on a hermeneutics of the Italian philosopher texts, it is evident the criticisms of irrationalism are contested by the author, however, like all philosophy, it is necessary to deepen and reflect on the implications this philosophy has for modern philosophy and hodiernal hermeneutics. (...) The concepts of thought and hermeneutic rationality are the axes upon which Gianni Vattimo's philosophy is analyzed and philosophically reflected in this article. (shrink)

The problem of evil asks why an all-loving, all-powerful God would permit evil and suffering. Gianni Vattimo, a postmodern philosopher influenced by Nietzsche and Heidegger, returned to religion in the 1990s, but only addressed the concept of evil in a sustained fashion some twenty years later. Vattimo’s contribution to the problem of evil addresses the problem circuitously by analysing the concept of evil and by bringing in theological concept of grace, albeit rethinking these concepts in accordance with his own (...) philosophical style of ‘weak thought’. This article applies Vattimo’s understanding of evil and grace to the problem of evil, comparing his approach to Pareyson’s and analysing the extent to which Vattimo’s understanding of evil enables someone drawing upon his weak thought to provide an appropriate response to the problem of evil. (shrink)

The problem of evil asks why an all-loving, all-powerful God would permit evil and suffering. Gianni Vattimo, a postmodern philosopher influenced by Nietzsche and Heidegger, returned to religion in the 1990s, but only addressed the concept of evil in a sustained fashion some twenty years later. Vattimo’s contribution to the problem of evil addresses the problem circuitously by analysing the concept of evil and by bringing in theological concept of grace, albeit rethinking these concepts in accordance with his own (...) philosophical style of ‘weak thought’. This article applies Vattimo’s understanding of evil and grace to the problem of evil, comparing his approach to Pareyson’s and analysing the extent to which Vattimo’s understanding of evil enables someone drawing upon his weak thought to provide an appropriate response to the problem of evil. (shrink)

This paper presents some of the ideas from Gianni Vattimo’s book, Ecce Comu. What many people have viewed as a radicalization toward the left in the ethical-political reflection of this Italian thinker is not only a discourse that seeks to develop in a crisis situation like the present, the conseque..

El pensamiento de Gianni Vattimo como entrecruzamiento de política, filosofía y religión.

The possibility of a naturalistic explanation of religious phenomena (including Christianity) which is offered by natural science gives the question of the uniqueness of Christianity a new urgency, for it raises the question of whether an irreducible otherness in Christianity vis‐à‐vis a generally‐human, natural religiosity (which may be explained naturalistically) can be demonstrated. In what follows, we shall discuss the answer of two contemporary thinkers to this question: that of the Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo and that of the French‐American (...) literary critic and fundamental anthropologist René Girard. There is also an interesting link between both thinkers, as we shall see below – Vattimo has stated that it was his reading of Girard which made him return to Christianity after having abandoned it earlier in his life. (shrink)

ExcerptIt is only fitting that the readers of Telos should be introduced to the thought of contemporary Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo at a certain “end” marked by the last lesson he gave on the occasion of his retirement from the University of Turin on October 14, 2008. Announced here is the coming to a close of a lecture course and of a long and illustrious university career, though not the end of an active theoretical and political engagement. (As far (...) as the latter is concerned, Vattimo was reelected, after a brief hiatus, as a deputy to the European Parliament in…. (shrink)

Since the 1980s, Vattimo’s “Weak Thought” has been an emendation of his previous revolutionary and dialectical reading of Nietzsche. Marxist terrorism in Europe exposed the indissoluble link between dialectics and violence, and consequently Vattimo’s revision was a rejection of any reconstructive effort for a new political and social order. But in the age of Silvio Berlusconi, Vattimo rediscovered the joy of political commitment. Ecce Comu was a call to pursue “a project of human emancipation” founded “on the search for equality.” (...) More recently, Of Reality and Hermeneutic Communism are a rejection of neoliberal philosophies and constitute a jump back to the 1970s. Vattimo aims once again to change the world and reality, a reality that other philosophies (Ferraris’s New Realism) simply contemplate as a pure fact. Vattimo defends the “revolutionary” meaning of hermeneutics against realism’s conservative tendencies and develops a project close to Gramsci’s “philosophy of praxis.”. (shrink)

To clarify Vattimo’s position on secularism and Islam, I first discuss his view that secularisation as kenosis and caritas entails the nihilistic vocation of Being, as expressed in our postmodern world where there appear to be no facts, only interpretations. I then survey some of Vattimo’s negative judgements of Islam, which appear to be out of keeping with his own disavowal of “modern” ideals such as “progress” and “grand narratives.” After analysing Islam’s turbulent history of secularism, I suggest the need (...) for Islamic secularism for its own religious and political reasons. Vattimo’s theory of secularisation helps to identify not only what Islam should avoid in pursuing its own secularisation, but also what it can emphasise within its own tradition as a stimulus towards secularisation: the Golden Rule. This rule, if presented by influential imams as spiritually and as ethically open to the other as possible, may lead through action-based dialogue to a form of reciprocal listening that is the core of Vattimo’s notion of secularism, but which is based, at the same time, on the awareness of the gulf between the transcendence of Allah and the finitude and fallibility of human politico-religious institutions. (shrink)

Resumen: La presente contribución gira en torno al significado del atentado terrorista del 11 de septiembre de 2001 para la hermenéutica filosófica, en particular la de Gianni Vattimo. El turinés gestó en sus textos de entre 2006 y 2014 una versión nueva de la hermenéutica que se basa en la experiencia de este acontecimiento. Esta nueva hermenéutica estaría atenta al conflicto y a las transformaciones sociales y tendría por núcleo la noción de “evento”, Sin embargo, Vattimo mismo no ofrece (...) una definición operativa adecuada del término. Ante esto, propongo incorporar a la tradición hermenéutica conceptos como “evento” y “milagro”, acuñados por Joseph de Maistre. Se trata de una propuesta de “maistrianización” de la hermenéutica para hacer de ella un discurso viable y fructífero en un mundo violento e inestable. (shrink)

¿Puede esperarse una globallzaclón política que esté en condiciones de hacer frente a lo globalizaclón económica de las multinacionales? Se presentan dos respuestas sobre las que vale la pena discutir. Las llamo, en lo que sigue, la respuesta populista y la respuesta federalista.

Gianni Vattimo's Non-religious Christianity. Weakening of being, secularization and divine kenosis.