Pub: Gianni Vattimo, A FAREWELL TO TRUTH.

Vattimo, Gianni.  A Farewell to Truth.  Trans. William McCuaig.  New York: Columbia UP, 2011.

With Western cultures becoming more pluralistic, the question of "truth" 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 "truthful" 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 "death of God" 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.

Visit: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0231153082/ref=pe_5050_19265340_snp_dp.

Pub: Richard Rorty and Gianni Vattimo, AN ETHICS FOR TODAY.

Rorty, Richard, and Gianni Vattimo.  An Ethics for Today: Finding Common Ground Between Philosophy and Religion.  New York: Columbia UP, 2010.

Richard Rorty is famous, maybe even infamous, for his philosophical nonchalance. His groundbreaking work not only rejects all theories of truth but also dismisses modern epistemology and its preoccupation with knowledge and representation. At the same time, the celebrated pragmatist believed there could be no universally valid answers to moral questions, which led him to a complex view of religion rarely expressed in his writings.

In this posthumous publication, Rorty, a strict secularist, finds in the pragmatic thought of John Dewey, John Stuart Mill, Henry James, and George Santayana, among others, a political imagination shared by religious traditions. His intent is not to promote belief over nonbelief or to blur the distinction between religious and public domains. Rorty seeks only to locate patterns of similarity and difference so an ethics of decency and a politics of solidarity can rise. He particularly responds to Pope Benedict XVI and his campaign against the relativist vision. Whether holding theologians, metaphysicians, or political ideologues to account, Rorty remains steadfast in his opposition to absolute uniformity and its exploitation of political strength.

More information is available here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0231150563/ref=pe_5050_17403190_snp_dp.

Pub: Recent Books by Gianni Vattimo.

• The Responsibility of the Philosopher. Ed. Franca D'Agostini. Trans. William McCuaig. New York: Columbia UP, 2010. (Further information is here: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15242-6/the-responsibility-of-the-philosopher);
• Christianity, Truth, and Weakening Faith: a Dialogue. By Vattimo and Rene Girard. New York: Columbia UP, 2010. (Further information is here: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14828-3/christianity-truth-and-weakening-faith);
• Not Being God: a Collaborative Autobiography. By Vattimo and Piergiorgio Paterlini. Trans. William McCuaig. New York: Columbia UP, 2009. (Further information is here: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14720-0/not-being-god).

Gianni Vattimo, "The End of Reality," Gifford Lectures, June 7-10, 2010.

Time: 18:00 Venue: Western Infirmary Lecture Theatre (WILT), University of Glasgow Mon 7 June "Tarski and the Quotation Marks of his Principle" Alfred Tarski argued that truth is indefinable. Yet truth in language, the kind of truth that perplexed Tarski, may be grounded in a more basic notion of truth explored by European thinkers. Vattimo explores the question of the relationship between human existence, language and truth. Tues 8 June "Beyond Phenomenology" Wed 9 June "Being and Event" Thurs 10 June "The Ethical Dissolution of Reality" For further information contact Angela Hair, Development and Alumni Office, Email: A.Hair@admin.gla.ac.uk, Tel: 0141 330 3593