Response to Valgenti

Gianni Vattimo

Santiago Zabala

pp. 207-209

in: Silvia Mazzini, Owen Glyn-Williams (eds), Making communism hermeneutical, Berlin, Springer, 2017

Abstract

Robert Valgenti introduced the great Italian philosopher Luigi Pareyson to the English speaking world. Pareyson, together with Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur, is among the most original hermeneutic thinkers of the twentieth century. But Valgenti has not simply translated one of his most important works, Truth and Interpretation (1971), but also a number of books by Gianni, such as Farewell to Truth (2011) and Of Reality (2016), as well as many of his essays. Valgenti's expertise is not limited to Italian philosophy. His knowledge of German hermeneutics is also profound, as is evident in the "genealogy of interpretation" he delineates through Nietzsche's writings in his contribution. This genealogy serves our American friend not only to point out the centrality Nietzsche plays together with Marx and Heidegger in our project, but also to disclose a "contradiction" at the core of Hermeneutic Communism. What does this contradiction consist in and why is it important?

Cited authors

Heidegger Martin

Ricoeur Paul

Nietzsche Friedrich

Gadamer Hans-Georg

Pareyson Luigi

Marx Karl