Gianni Vattimo 1936 – 2023
Gianteresio Vattimo, known as Gianni Vattimo, was an Italian philosopher and politician and the principal architect of what he called pensiero debole, weak thought. A pupil of Luigi Pareyson and a long-time professor at Turin, he developed in The End of Modernity, Belief, After Christianity, and Beyond Interpretation a distinctive hermeneutic philosophy in which the softening of strong metaphysical claims is read as the proper destiny of post-Christian modernity rather than as a mere loss. He served two terms as a member of the European Parliament and remained a public voice on questions of religion, truth, and political life until his death in 2023.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Italian
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Continental, Post-Structuralism
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Gianni Vattimo:
“Weak thought is the form philosophy must take after the death of metaphysics.”
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Attributed to Gianni Vattimo:
“Secularization is the destiny of Christianity, not its betrayal.”
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Attributed to Gianni Vattimo:
“Truth is more event than correspondence.”
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Attributed to Gianni Vattimo:
“Hermeneutics is the koine of late modern philosophy.”
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Attributed to Gianni Vattimo:
“Charity is the rule that survives the dissolution of all foundations.”