The Adventure of Difference

In this highly original book the author addresses the question of how we are to conceive of human reasoning in a situation where there are no global, privileged points of view.

Drawing on the work of Nietzsche and Heidegger, Vattimo proposes a conception of thought based on 'difference' - a conception which accepts the fragmentation of knowledge and renounces the quest for totality. He also argues for an 'ontology of decline' - a conception of being which renounces all the strong characteristics attributed to it by traditional metaphysics and which instead, following Heidegger, links being to time, life and the rhythm of birth and death.

Introduction.

1. Hermeneutical Reason/Dialectical Reason.

2. The Decline of the Subject and the Problem of Testimony.

3. Nietzsche and Difference.

4. The Will to Power as Art.

5. An-denken. Thinking and the Foundation.

6. The Adventure of Difference.

7. Dialectic and Difference.

'Vattimo is arguably one of the most instructive interpreters of Nietzsche and Heidegger writing today.' Times Higher Education Supplement

'Gianni Vattimo, a leading philosopher in Italy and a foremost exponent of hermeneutics, has also developed a remarkably striking and polemical philosophical orientation in his recent book The Adventure of Difference.' New Quest

Gianni Vattimo is an Italian philosopher and university professor who served in the European Parliament. He taught at the University of Turin. Vattimo edited the Journal of Aesthetics and has contributed to many international magazines. He is a member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin. He has received honorary degrees from several universities and was awarded the Official Great Merit of the Italian Republic in 1997. Most of his books are in English translation. In this highly original book the author addresses the question of how we are to conceive of human reasoning in a situation where there are no global, privileged points of view.

Drawing on the work of Nietzsche and Heidegger, Vattimo proposes a conception of thought based on 'difference' - a conception which accepts the fragmentation of knowledge and renounces the quest for totality. He also argues for an 'ontology of decline' - a conception of being which renounces all the strong characteristics attributed to it by traditional metaphysics and which instead, following Heidegger, links being to time, life and the rhythm of birth and death.