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Separating communism from its metaphysical foundations, which include an abiding faith in the immutable laws of history and an almost holy conception of the proletariat, Gianni Vattimo and Santiago Zabala recast Marxs theories at a time when capitalisms metaphysical moorings - in technology, empire, and industrialization - are buckling. While Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri call for a return of the revolutionary left, Vattimo and Zabala fear this would lead only to more violence and failed political policy. Instead, they adopt an antifoundationalist stance drawn from the hermeneutic thought of Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, and Richard Rorty. Hermeneutic communism leaves aside the ideal of development and the general call for revolution; it relies on interpretation rather than truth and proves more flexible in different contexts. Hermeneutic communism motivates a resistance to capitalisms inequalities yet intervenes against violence and authoritarianism by emphasizing the interpretative nature of truth.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. Framed Democracy 1. Imposing Descriptions
2. Armed Capitalism
Part II. Hermeneutic Communism 3. Interpretation as Anarchy
4. Hermeneutic Communism
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Gianni Vattimo, geboren 1936 in Turin, studierte Philosophie in Turin sowie in Heidelberg bei Hans-Georg Gadamer und Karl Löwith. 1964 wurde er Professor für Ästhetik in Turin, 1982 übernahm er dort den Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Philosophie. Von 1999 bis 2004 war Gianni Vattimo linksdemokratischer Abgeordneter im Europäischen Parlament.
Santiago Zabala, Jahrgang 1975, wuchs in Rom, Wien und Genf auf. Er studierte Philosophie an der Universität in Turin und schloss das Studium 2002 mit einer Magisterarbeit bei Gianni Vattimo ab. 2006 promovierte er an der Pontifical Lateran University in Rom. Für die Jahre 2008 und 2009 erhielt er ein Forschungsstipendium der Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung.
Report
"Hermeneutic Communism is much more than a beautifully written essay in political philosophy, reaching from ontological premises to concrete political analyses: it provides a coherent communist vision from the standpoint of Heideggerian postmetaphysical hermeneutics. All those who criticize postmodern weak thought for its inability to ground radical political practice will have to admit their mistake - Gianni Vattimo and Santiago Zabala demonstrate that weak thought does not mean weak action but is the very resort of strong radical change. This is a book that everyone who thinks about radical politics needs like the air he or she breathes!" - Slavoj iek, author of Living in the End
