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.

Introduction: The Strong Reasons for Weak Thought, by Franca D'Agostini
Weakness
French Nihilism and Italian Nihilism
Nihilism and Difference
Difference and Dialectic
Nihilism, Hermeneutics, and Postmodernity
Verwindung
Argumentation and Provenance
This Book
Postscript (2009)
1. Philosophy and Science
After Kant, After Hegel
The Flash of the Ereignis
The Story of a Comma
Science and "Being–not beings"
The Edification of Humanity
Cumulative Knowledges
2. Philosophy, History, Literature
Truth, Rhetoric, History
Are History and Ontology Compatible?
Mythization of the World
Fugues
Sciences of Nature and Sciences of the Spirit?
3. Logic in Philosophy
Logic and the Logics
Logic and the History of Being
Philosophy of Logic and Logic of Philosophy
Logic and Ontology
4. To Speak the Truth
Redemisti nos Domine Deus veritatis
The Endless Banquet
Do Vampires Exist?
5. The Vocation to Philosophy and the Responsibility of Philosophy
Writing for the Newspapers
Writing in the First Person
The Dive Into Politics
Politics Philosopher-style
Losing your Soul
Filling in the Blanks
The Construction of Universality is Political
Notes
Bibliography
Index