The Adventure of Difference
Philosophy After Nietzsche and Heidegger

aeo This is an important work of continental philosophy. Vattimo is widely recognized as the leading philosopher in Italy today, and his work has become very influential in the modernity--postmodernity debate. aeo Vattimo develops his own distinctive philosphical position, drawing on the work of Nietzsche and Heidegger.

In this highly original book the author addresses the question of how we are to conceive of human reasoning in a situation where there are no global, privileged points of view. Drawing on the work of Nietzsche and Heidegger, Vattimo proposes a conception of thought based on a differencea -- a conception which accepts the fragmentation of knowledge and renounces the quest for totality. He also argues for an a ontology of declinea -- a conception of being which renounces all the strong characteristics attributed to it by traditional metaphysics and which instead, following Heidegger, links being to time, life and the rhythm of birth and death.

Introduction. 1. Hermeneutical Reason/Dialectical Reason. 2. The Decline of the Subject and the Problem of Testimony. 3. Nietzsche and Difference. 4. The Will to Power as Art. 5. An--denken. Thinking and the Foundation. 6. The Adventure of Difference. 7. Dialectic and Difference.