Making Communism Hermeneutical

This book aims to provide fresh perspectives on Vattimo and Zabala's groundbreaking foundational text, Hermeneutic Communism, from 2011. The contributors to this collection of essays explore various facets of Vattimo and Zabala's "anarchic hermeneutics" and "weak communism" in order to investigate the concepts resulting from them, such as "framed democracies," "armed capitalism" and "conservative impositions." Vattimo and Zabala's text is one of the most innovative contributions to the current debate on Communism, in which authors such as Badiou, Negri, and Rancière have been the protagonists so far. The unique and original contribution of Vattimo and Zabala's position consists in letting politics evolve from one of the anarchic origins of hermeneutics: the end of truth. This triggers the essential question of how far politics is possible without truth. One of the essential, methodologically innovative characteristics of this collection is its dialogical, hermeneutical form, which is achieved by inserting Vattimo and Zabala's personal reactions to each essay in the book. By responding to each chapter in turn, Vattimo and Zabala establish a hermeneutic dialogue with the contributors. Thus hermeneutics will not only be a central topic, but also an epistemological, concrete application of Vattimo and Zabala's theories. An indispensable critical tool for students, researchers, professors, activists and general readers interested in the philosophical and political debate on Communism, which encompasses a wide variety of disciplines such as philosophy, political science, sociology, postcolonial studies, critical theory and Latin American studies. Offering an innovative first analysis of the new concepts of Hermeneutic Communism, this book represents a vital contribution to the understanding of the intriguing interrelation between philosophical hermeneutics and political communism.

Auteur

Silvia Mazzini is an Assistant Professor at the Humboldt University Berlin. She is the author of Für eine mannigfaltige mögliche Welt. Kunst und Politik bei Ernst Bloch und Gianni Vattimo (For a Many-fold Possible World. Arts and Politics in Ernst Bloch and Gianni Vattimo), 2010 and of numerous articles on aesthetics, political philosophy, cultural studies and theatre sciences.

Owen Glyn-Williams is currently completing a dissertation in the department of philosophy at DePaul University. His research concentrates on the historical and conceptual development of civil society in modernity, and examines the relationship between imperatives of civility and political antagonism.

Contenu
Introduction (Silvia Mazzini and Owen Glyn-Williams).-Part I: Hermeneutics.- Chapter 1. The Hermeneutics of Manifestos & the Metaphysics of the End (Eduardo Mendieta).-Chapter 2. Response (Vattimo and Zabala).- Chapter 3. Politics, Hermeneutics, and Truth (Nick Malpas and Jeff Malpas).- Chapter 4. Response (Vattimo and Zabala).- Chapter 5. Hermeneutic Communism: Left Heideggerianism's Last Hope? (Martin Woessner).- Chapter 6. Response (Vattimo and Zabala).- Chapter 7. Love for the Other? Hermeneutic Communism and a Politics of Love (Peg Birmingham).- Chapter 8. Response (Vattimo and Zabala).- Chapter 9. Reinterpreting the Reckless Mind: The Political Becoming of Hermeneutics (Jeffrey Robbins).- Chapter 10. Response by Vattimo and Zabala.- Part II: Weakening.- Chapter 11. Hermeneutic Communism as (Weak) Political Phenomenology (Michael Marder).- Chapter 12. Response (Vattimo and Zabala).- Chapter 13.- Weaker Hermeneutics and Critical Theory: Changing Convictions, Changing the World (Babette Babich).- Chapter 14. Response (Vattimo and Zabala).- Chapter 15. If the Weak Will Win (Silvia Mazzini).- Chapter 16. Response (Vattimo and Zabala).- Chapter 17. Metaphysics and Hermeneutic Communism (Bradley Kaye).- Chapter 18. Response (Vattimo and Zabala).- Chapter 19. The Tragedy of Hermeneutic Communism: Weak Thought, Decision and the Political (Michael Gillespie and Lucas Perkins).- Chapter 20. Response (Vattimo and Zabala).- Chapter. 21. It's Time to Change the World! On Vattimo and Zabala's Hermeneutic Communism (Liu Liangjian ).- Chapter 22. Response (Vattimo and Zabala).- Part III: Communism.- Chapter 23. The New Communism: Reflections on the End of Capitalism (Clayton Crockett).- Chapter 24. Response (Vattimo and Zabala).- Chapter 25. Are the Oppressed 'Weak'? Political Subjectivity and Popular Emancipation (Owen Glyn-Williams).- Chapter 26. Response (Vattimo and Zabala).- Chapter 27. Nietzsche the Communist? (Robert Valgenti).- Response (Vattimo and Zabala).- Chapter 28. Hermeneutic Capitalism? A Precursor to Vattimo & Zabala (Mike Grimshaw).- Chapter 29. Response by (Vattimo and Zabala).- Chapter 30. When Marx Read Heidegger (William Egginton).- Chapter 31. Response (Vattimo and Zabala).- Chapter 32. Hermeneutic Truth and Contingent Grounds: An Assessment of Hermeneutic Communism (Roberto Alejandro).- Chapter 33. Response (Vattimo and Zabala).