Hermeneutics Without Truth?

Sergio Givone and James Martin discuss Gianni Vattimo's Essere e dintorni. Givone summarizes the salient features of Vattimo's reading of Heidegger, in connection to the overcoming of metaphysics. Moreover, he focuses on Vattimo's theory of truth underlining its originality and limits against the background of philosophical hermeneutics. Martin discusses the political relevance of the book. He retraces Vattimo's way of facing Heidegger's Nazism from a left- wing perspective. But at the same time Martin identifies some aporia in Vattimo's outlook, especially his adhesion to the Chavist regime and his critical positions against Israel.