Dialogue with Nietzsche:

For more than forty years, Gianni Vattimo, one of Europe's most important and influential philosophers, has been a leading participant in the postwar turn that has brought Nietzsche back to the center of philosophical enquiry. In this collection of his essays on the subject, which is a dialogue both with Nietzsche and with the Nietzschean tradition, Vattimo explores the German philosopher's most important works and discusses his views on the Übermensch, time, history, truth, hermeneutics, ethics, and aesthetics. He also presents a different, more "Italian" Nietzsche, one that diverges from German and French characterizations. Many contemporary French and poststructuralist philosophers offer literary or aesthetic readings of Nietzsche's work that downplay its political import. Shaped by the revolutionary tradition of 1968, Vattimo's interpretations take Nietzsche seriously as a political philosopher and argue for and defend his relevance to projects for social and political change.

Library Journal

Vattimo (hermeneutic philosophy, Turin Univ., Italy; Nietzsche: Philosophy as Cultural Criticism) here suggests a dialog of ideas and ideals between the 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and one of his first 20th-century admirers, Martin Heidegger. The 15 essays this volume comprises have seen past publication in a variety of scholarly venues, but taken together they form a satisfying whole. While each draws its theme from a particular work or concept developed by Nietzsche (e.g., "The Gay Science," the "over-man"), the interpretations brought to bear are not Heideggerian, but Vattimonian: for the Italian philosopher, Nietzsche's work stands out as postmetaphysical and political rather than metaphysical and aesthetic, as he has been interpreted by other European cultures. Vattimo writes cogently and without much interruption of explanatory discourses, making this work most suitable for academic readers. Beyond the philosophy department, this should include political scientists and those concerned with European intellectual history.-Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., CA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Gianni Vattimo is emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Turin and a member of the European Parliament. His books with Columbia University Press are Christianity, Truth, and Weakening Faith: A Dialogue (with René Girard), Not Being God: A Collaborative Autobiography, Art's Claim to Truth, After the Death of God, Dialogue with Nietzsche, The Future of Religion (with Richard Rorty), Nihilism and Emancipation: Ethics, Politics, and the Law, and After Christianity.

William McCuaig is the translator of Books, Banks, Buttons, and Other Inventions from the Middle Ages, by Chiara Frugoni, and Vattimo's Nihilism and Emancipation.