Gianni Vattimo

Gianni Vattimo was an Italian philosopher and politician who served as professor of aesthetics and theoretical philosophy at the University of Turin. He developed weak thought (pensiero debole), a postmodern position that rejects the foundational certainties of modern metaphysics, drawing heavily on Nietzsche and Heidegger and on hermeneutics. In his later work he argued for what he called hermeneutic communism. He also served as a member of the European Parliament and was a prominent public intellectual who took controversial stances on Israel-Palestine.