Dialogue with Nietzsche

For more than forty years, Gianni Vattimo, one of Europe's most important and influential postwar philosophers, has shaped and challenged perceptions of Nietzsche. In "Dialogue with Nietzsche", a reflection of his remarkable engagement with Nietzsche's legacy, Vattimo explores the German philosopher's most important works and ideas. He draws on and quotes extensively from fragments in Nietzsche's notebooks, many of which have never before been translated into English. In its "dialogue" with Nietzsche, this collection also reveals the intellectual shifts and continuities that characterize Vattimo's work. Vattimo presents a different, more "Italian" Nietzsche, one that diverges from German and French characterizations. Many contemporary French and poststructuralist philosophers offer readings of Nietzsche's work that downplay its political import. Shaped by the revolutionary tradition of 1968, Vattimo takes Nietzsche seriously as a political philosopher, and argues for his relevance to projects for social and political change. These essays also grapple with Heidegger, a philosopher who has had a profound influence on readings of Nietzsche and on Vattimo's work. Unlike Heidegger, who views Nietzsche as the ultimate metaphysician, Vattimo interprets him as the founder of postmetaphysical philosophy.