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Gianni Vattimo

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Turin.

(Turin, Italy, 1936). Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Turin and Member of the European Parliament, he is one of Italy’s best known philosophers. He has been a visiting professor at a number of universities in the United States (Yale, Los Angeles, New York University, and State University of New York) and has been awarded the distinction of Doctor Honoris Causa on several occasions. Always closely engaged in public life, he embarked on his career as a politician in 1999 as a member of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. He is one of the leading authors on postmodernism and regarded as the philosopher of pensiero debole (weak thought). In theoretical terms, he is seeking to interpret the late-modern world in its forms of secularisation, the evolution of democratic regimes, pluralism and tolerance. Among his recent publications are Ecce Comu (Paidós, 2009); ¿Ateos o creyentes? (Atheists or Believers?, Paidós, 2009); A Farewell to Truth (Columbia University Press, 2011), published in Spanish as Adiós a la verdad (Gedisa, 2010); and (with Rene Girard and edited by Pierpaolo Antonello) Christianity, Truth and Weakening Faith: A Dialogue (Columbia University Press, 2010), published in Spanish as Verdad o fe débil (Paidós, 2011) and El socialismo, o sea, Europa (Edicions Bellaterra, 2011). He is vice-president of the Academy of Latinity.

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