Hermeneutic Communism: From Heidegger to Marx

AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I. Framed Democracy 1. Imposing Descriptions2. Armed CapitalismPart II. Hermeneutic Communism 3. Interpretation as Anarchy4. Hermeneutic CommunismBibliographyIndex

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.

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 i ek, author of Living in the End Hermeneutic Communism is one of those rare books that seamlessly combines postmetaphysical philosophy and political practice, the task of a meticulous ontological interpretation and decisive revolutionary action, the critique of intellectual hegemony and a positive, creative thought. Vattimo and Zabala, unlike Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, do not offer their readers a readymade political ontology but allow radical politics to germinate from each singular and concrete act of interpretation. This is the most significant event of twenty-first-century philosophy! -- Michael Marder, author of Groundless Existence: The Political Ontology of Carl Schmitt The authors argue that 'weak thought,' or an antifoundational hermeneutics, will allow social movements to avoid both the violence attending past struggles and, if triumphant, a falling back into routines of domination -- the restoration of what Jean-Paul Sartre called the 'practico-inert.' Vattimo and Zabala end with Latin America as a case study of applied weak thought politics, where the left in recent years has had remarkable success at the polls. -- Greg Grandin, New York University Those interested in the potential for theoretical reformulations made possible by postfoundational political thought and those following the rebellion of