Author:
David Jasper, Researcher, Centre for European Studies, Renmin University of China; Emeritus Professor, University of Glasgow, UK.
Abstract:
Gianni Vattimo is one of the most important of European post-modern philosophers. As a Roman Catholic, he emphasizes the centrality of Christian thought in contemporary Europe, stressing theology as "weak thought", based on his understanding of the incarnation from Philippians 2:5-11, where God divests himself of his glory to become the humblest of human beings. Thus, Christian theology lies at the heart of a "secularizing" process of European thought in a post-metaphysical philosophy based on human love and self-surrender. As well as a philosopher, Vattimo was also active in the early days of the European Parliament, working as a deputy for the Party of European Socialists, understanding Jesus' teaching as providing 'the foundation of the secularity of any democratic state today.' He thus, with other postmodern thinkers such as Derrida and Jean-Luc Marion, moves on from earlier Enlightenment thinking with an emphasis on the term "charity" as embodied in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. In Glasgow University Gifford Lectures entitled Of Reality: The Purposes of Philosophy , Vattimo called upon his audience to recover its natural skepticism towards normative claims on the path of true ethical recovery. He finally emphasized our ethical responsibility in the postmodern world.
Keywords:
Weak thought, kenosis, hermeneutics, incarnation, Death of God, Europe, charity
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