Gianni Vattimo (1936–2023)

I just read the short book "Belief" that Vattimo published in 1995 about his mainly emotional return to his Catholic faith (although you have to take that with a grain of salt). The book left me very unsatisfied, but perhaps that was because I didn't know Vattimo very well. This book makes up for that. It is a kind of autobiography in the form of a long conversation with a (fictitious?) friend.
Like any autobiography, this book is highly apologetic and also illustrates the petty-human, vain aspects of Vattimo. But he is not afraid to also talk about the uncertainties in his very erratic life course, even about rather intimate matters; for example his personal struggle with his homosexuality is openly discussed.
On the basis of this book it is perfectly possible to reconstruct an intellectual biography of Vattimo: his proletarian origin and the militant Catholic commitment in his youth and years of study, in the 1950s; his steep academic career as a philosopher, coupled with a strong left-wing commitment, ranging from Maoism to classical communism to libertarian anarchism. As mentioned in "Belief", the postmodernism of René Girard in particular brought him back into Christian water, although that seems more like a return to the warm security of his former environment. Not only philosophical musings (his concept of "soft thinking"), but also the loss of some loved ones played a role in this.
And that brings us to the vulnerable Vattimo, who, with his postmodern relativism, has a keen eye for the uncertainties of existence and an aversion to scientism and fundamentalism (both religious and rationalistic). In this way, this book provides a good view of the fragile existence of a man who, despite his very public role (also in politics), consciously opted for "not being God".… (more)