Art’s Claim to Truth

Gianni Vattimo

Published by Columbia University Press 2008

Art’s Claim to Truth

Gianni Vattimo
Edited by: Santiago Zabala
Translated by: Luca D'Isanto

In the series Columbia Themes in Philosophy, Social Criticism, and the Arts

https://doi.org/10.7312/vatt13850

Overview
Contents

About this book

Following Heidegger's interpretation of the history of philosophy, Gianni 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 a 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.

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.

Author / Editor information

Gianni Vattimo is emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Turin and a member of the European Parliament. His books with Columbia University Press are Christianity, Truth, and Weakening Faith: A Dialogue (with René Girard), Not Being God: A Collaborative Autobiography, Art's Claim to Truth, After the Death of God, Dialogue with Nietzsche, The Future of Religion (with Richard Rorty), Nihilism and Emancipation: Ethics, Politics, and the Law, and After Christianity.Santiago Zabala is ICREA Research Professor at the University of Barcelona. He is the author of The Remains of Being: Hermeneutic Ontology After Metaphysics and The Hermeneutic Nature of Analytic Philosophy: A Study of Ernst Tugendhat; editor of Weakening Philosophy, Nihilism and Emancipation, and The Future of Religion; and coeditor (with Jeff Malpas) of Consequences of Hermeneutics.Luca D'Isanto is a translator, editor, and writer of numerous publications on the religious and political turn in postmodern thought.

Reviews

Daniel Guentchev:
Art's Claim to Truth offers much to work with with in the field of contemporary aesthetics.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Introduction: The Hermeneutic Consequence of Art’s Ontological Bearing Santiago Zabala Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Part 1. aesthetics
1. Beauty and Being in Ancient Aesthetics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
2. Toward an Ontological Aesthetics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
3. The Ontological Vocation of Twentieth- Century Poetics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
4. Art, Feeling, and Originality in Heidegger’s Aesthetics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
Part II. Hermeneutics
5. Pareyson: From Aesthetics to Ontology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
6. From Phenomenological Aesthetics to Ontology of Art Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	90
7. Critical Methods and Hermeneutic Philosophy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
Part III. Truth
8. Aesthetics and Hermeneutics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
9. Aesthetics and Hermeneutics in Hans- Georg Gadamer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
10. The Work of Art as the Setting to Work of Truth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
11. The Truth That Hurt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 216

eBook

Published: April 18, 2008
ISBN: 9780231515665