Response to Birmingham

Gianni Vattimo

Santiago Zabala

pp. 63-64

in: Silvia Mazzini, Owen Glyn-Williams (eds), Making communism hermeneutical, Berlin, Springer, 2017

Abstract

If truth is a consequence of interpretation, rather than its cause, hermeneutic philosophers must not only be capable of accepting others' interpretations, but also inconsistencies or paradoxes in their own work when pointed out. However, this acceptance does not imply the recognition of an error, but rather functions as a reminder that theory does not stand on firm ground. This is probably why hermeneutic thinkers like to take risks. Heidegger took a political risk. Rorty took a philosophical risk. If Slavoj Žižek called for the "defense of lost causes", it is probably because too many of us have stopped taking these sorts of risks.

Cited authors

Heidegger Martin

Žižek Slavoj