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Weak Thought and Religion in Gianni Vattimo: Implications and Repercussions

Yıl 2023, Din, Felsefe ve Toplum, 938 - 952, 30.12.2023
https://doi.org/10.14395/hid.1340172

Öz

In this paper, I focus on controversial issues in Gianni Vattimo’s later philosophy concerning religion. In his later writings, Vattimo employs his idea of “weak thought” (il pensiero debole) to (re)interpret Christianity by claiming that as opposed to metanarratives of modernity, a weak ontology not only weakens all foundations and dominant truth claims, but also enfeebles the strong metaphysical claims of atheism such as “God does not exist.” There is no reason to be an atheist, according to Vattimo, since weak thought enables emancipation from all ideological foundations, including atheism. Therefore, Vattimo offers a new definition of secularization: In contrast to modernity’s claim that secularization is to banish religion from the states of reason and progress, he changes the target of secularization from religion to metaphysics. Hence, the rigid distinction between faith and reason is nothing but another foundation that needs to be weakened. That is why the aim of secularization in the West is not separate faith and reason, but to weaken metaphysics in order to make room for faith. Put it differently, secularization is “weak thought” itself. This idea is strengthened by Vattimo’s interpretation of Nietzsche’s announcement of God’s death. However, in Vattiminian perspective, the God announced as dead by Nietzsche is not the God of the biblical text but the God of metaphysics which philosophers have believed since Pascal. Hence, the statement that “God is dead” is basically the rejection of the metaphysical foundation built by modernity this time. Like Jesus the crucified, God in the postmodern time, too, becomes weak and is tolerant toward the other. Furthermore, like the birth of Christianity, the postmodern return of religion, in fact, depends on those who receive this announcement. For postmodernity as a philosophy of event considers the Christian event in the sense of Ereignis. That means Nietzsche never comes to “claim” that God is dead, but rather he makes an announcement of the death of God as a historical event. That is why Vattimo maintains that postmodernity is not only the overcoming of metaphysics but also now the rebirth of Christianity after the second death of God, and proposes two constituents of the postmodern return of religion: (1) the reinterpretation of kénosis as a diminution of all foundations, and (2) the recognition of truth as caritas as opposed to the metaphysical agreement over truth as an obsession with objectivity. Thus, we can conclude that Vattimo in his later writings radicalizes hermeneutics in terms of scrutinizing the idea of “weak thought” with Christianity. However, it also should not be unnoticed that employing his earlier thoughts to (re)interpret Christianity after Nietzsche’s announcement and Heidegger’s ontology, Vattimo risks the major points of his earlier consideration of hermeneutics as koine in the postmodern era. Though he draws a modest picture of the postmodern era, Vattimo falls into the error of reducing hermeneutics as koine to the Christian discourse. On the other hand, Vattimo has an idiosyncratic and outmoded understanding of what it is to be an atheist “in postmodern times”. In this regard, by misapprehending the possible responses of atheistic arguments, Vattimo risks his weak thought (il pensiero debole) by making the religious approach “strong” in comparison not only with other religions and various traditions but also with atheism. Finally, I argue that Vattimo’s rhetoric of “the return” is doomed to constitute a fundamentalist approach regarding the future of Christianity.

Kaynakça

  • Caputo, John D. “Dialogue: On the Power of the Powerless”. After the Death of God. ed. Jeffrey W. Robbins. 114-160. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
  • Caputo, John D. “Spectral Hermeneutics: On the Weakness of God and the Theology of the Event”. After the Death of God. ed. Jeffrey W. Robbins. 47-85. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
  • Carravetta, Peter. Prefaces to the Diaphora: Rhetorics, Allegory, and the Interpretation of Postmodernity. Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 1991.
  • Carravetta, Peter. “Beyond Interpretation? On Some Perplexities Following Upon Vattimo’s Turn from Hermeneutics”. Between Nihilism and Politics: The Hermeneutics of Gianni Vattimo. ed. Silvia Benso and Brian Schroeder. 79-97. Albany: SUNY Press, 2010.
  • Carravetta, Peter. “The End(s) of Subjectivity and the Hermeneutic Task”. Introduction to Gianni Vattimo, Beyond the Subject: Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Hermeneutics. tr. Peter Carravetta. ix-xxvii. Albany: SUNY Press, 2019.
  • Derrida, Jacques. Writing and Difference. tr. Alan Bass. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1978. Dotolo, Carmelo. “The Hermeneutics of Christianity and Philosophical Responsibility”. Weakening Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Gianni Vattimo. ed. Santiago Zabala. 348-368. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007.
  • Frankenberry, Nancy. “Weakening Religious Belief: Vattimo, Rorty, and the Holism of the Mental”. Weakening Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Gianni Vattimo. ed. Santiago Zabala. 273-296. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007.
  • Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Truth and Method. tr. Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall. London & New York: Bloomsbury, 2013.
  • Girard, Réne. Violence and the Sacred. tr. Patrick Gregory. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977.
  • Girard, Réne. “Dialogue: Christianity and Modernity”. Christianity, Truth and Weakening Faith: A Dialogue. ed. Pierpaolo Antonello. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.
  • Girard, Réne. “Dialogue: Hermeneutics, Authority, Tradition”. Christianity, Truth, and Weakening Faith: A Dialogue. ed. Pierpaolo Antonello. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.
  • Heidegger, Martin. “The Word of Nietzsche: ‘God is Dead’”. The Question Concerning Technology, and Other Essays. tr. William Lovitt. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.
  • Risser, James. “On the Continuation of Philosophy: Hermeneutics as Convalescence”. Weakening Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Gianni Vattimo. ed. Santiago Zabala. 184-202. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007.
  • Rorty, Richard. “Heideggerianism and Leftist Politics”. Weakening Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Gianni Vattimo. ed. Santiago Zabala. 149-158. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007.
  • Rorty, Richard. “Anticlericalism and Atheism”. The Future of Religion. ed. Santiago Zabala. 29-41. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
  • Valgenti, Robert T. “Vattimo’s Nietzsche”. Interpreting Nietzsche: Reception and Influence. ed. Ashley Woodward. 149-163. London & New York: Bloomsbury, 2011.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “The Crisis of Subjectivity from Nietzsche to Heidegger”. Differentia 1 (1986), 5-21.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. The Adventure of Difference: Philosophy after Nietzsche and Heidegger. tr. Cyprian Blamires. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “The Truth of Hermeneutics”. Questioning Foundations: Truth, Subjectivity, and Culture. ed. Hugh J. Silverman. 11-28. New York: Routledge, 1993.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “The Trace of Trace”. Religion. ed. Jacques Derrida and Gianni Vattimo. 79-94. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. After Christianity. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “Dialogue: What Is Religion's Future After Metaphysics?”. The Future of Religion. ed. Santiago Zabala. 55-81. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “The Age of Interpretation”. The Future of Religion. ed. Santiago Zabala. 43-54. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. Dialogue with Nietzsche. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “Dialogue: Christianity and Modernity”. Christianity, Truth and Weakening Faith: A Dialogue. ed. Pierpaolo Antonello. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “Dialogue: Faith and Relativism”. Christianity, Truth and Weakening Faith: A Dialogue. ed. Pierpaolo Antonello. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “Toward a Nonreligious Christianity”. After the Death of God. ed. Jeffrey W. Robbins. 27-46. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “A Prayer for Silence”. After the Death of God. ed. Jeffrey W. Robbins. 89-113. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. Not Being God: A Collaborative Autobiography. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “Nihilism as Emancipation”. The Italian Difference: Between Nihilism and Biopolitics. ed. Lorenzo Chiesa and Alberto Toscano. 31-35. Melbourne: re. Press, 2009.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “Dialectics, Difference, Weak Thought”. Weak Thought. ed. G. Vattimo and P.A. Rovatti. tr. Peter Carravetta. 39-52. Albany: SUNY Press, 2012.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. The Responsibility of the Philosopher. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012.
  • Vattimo, Gianni, and Santiago Zabala. Hermeneutic Communism: From Heidegger to Marx. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.
  • Zabala, Santiago. “The Pharmakons of Onto-theology”. Weakening Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Gianni Vattimo. ed. Santiago Zabala. 231-259. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007.

Gianni Vattimo’da Zayıf Düşünce ve Din: Çıkarımlar ve Olası Sonuçlar

Yıl 2023, Din, Felsefe ve Toplum, 938 - 952, 30.12.2023
https://doi.org/10.14395/hid.1340172

Öz

Bu makalede, Gianni Vattimo’nun son dönem felsefesinde yoğunlaştığı din ile ilgili tartışmalı meselelere odaklanacağız. Geç dönemdeki yazılarında Vattimo, “zayıf düşünce” (il pensiero debole) fikrini, modernliğin meta-anlatılarının aksine, zayıf bir ontolojinin yalnızca tüm temelleri ve egemen hakikat iddialarını zayıflatmakla kalmayıp, aynı zamanda ateizmin “Tanrı yoktur” gibi güçlü metafizik iddialarını da güçsüzleştirdiğini öne sürerek Hıristiyanlığı (yeniden) yorumlamak için kullanır. Vattimo’ya göre ateist olmak için hiçbir neden yoktur, zira zayıf düşünce ateizm de dahil olmak üzere tüm ideolojik temellerden özgürleşmeyi mümkün kılar. Bu nedenle Vattimo yeni bir sekülerleşme tanımı sunar: Buna göre sekülerleşme, modernliğin iddia ettiği gibi, akıl ve ilerleme evrelerinden dini defetmek değildir; sekülerleşmenin asıl hedefi metafiziktir. Dolayısıyla, inanç ve akıl arasındaki katı ayrım, zayıflatılması gereken bir başka temelden başka bir şey değildir. Bu nedenle Batı’da sekülerleşmenin amacı inanç ve aklı birbirinden ayırmak değil, inanca yer açmak için metafiziği zayıflatmaktır. Bir başka deyişle, sekülerleşme “zayıf düşünce”nin bizzat kendisidir. Bu fikir, Vattimo’nun Nietzsche’nin Tanrı’nın ölümünü ilan etmesini yorumlamasıyla güçlenmektedir. Ancak Vattimo’nun bakış açısına göre Nietzsche’nin öldüğünü ilan ettiği Tanrı, İncil metnindeki Tanrı değil, Pascal’dan bu yana filozofların inandığı metafiziğin Tanrısıdır. Dolayısıyla “Tanrı öldü” ifadesi, temelde modernliğin bu çağda inşa ettiği metafizik temelin reddidir. Çarmıha gerilen İsa gibi, postmodern zamanda Tanrı da zayıflar ve ötekine karşı hoşgörülü olur. Dahası, Hıristiyanlığın doğuşu gibi, dinin postmodern dönüşü de aslında bu ilanın muhataplarına bağlıdır. Çünkü bir olay felsefesi olarak postmodernlik, İsa-Mesih olayını Ereignis anlamında ele alır. Bu da Nietzsche’nin hiçbir şekilde Tanrı’nın öldüğünü “iddia etmeye” gelmediği, aksine tarihsel bir olay olarak Tanrı’nın ölümünü ilan ettiği anlamına gelir. Bu nedenle Vattimo, postmodernliğin sadece metafiziğin aşılması değil, aynı zamanda Tanrı’nın bu ikinci ölümünden sonra Hıristiyanlığın yeniden doğuşu olduğunu savunur ve dinin postmodern dönüşünün iki bileşenini öne çıkarır: (1) kénosis’in tüm temellerin alt üst edilmesi olarak yeniden yorumlanması ve (2) bir nesnellik saplantısı olarak “hakikat” üzerindeki metafizik mutabakatın aksine hakikatin caritas olarak anlaşılması. Böylece Vattimo’nun son dönem yazılarında “zayıf düşünce” fikrini Hıristiyanlıkla birlikte irdelemesi bakımından hermeneutiği radikalleştirdiği sonucuna varabiliriz. Bununla birlikte, Nietzsche’nin ilanı ve Heidegger’in ontolojisinden sonra Hıristiyanlığı (yeniden) yorumlamak için daha önceki düşüncelerini kullanan Vattimo’nun, postmodern çağın “ana dili” olarak gördüğü hermenötiğin koine oluşunu riske attığı da gözden kaçmamalıdır. Postmodern çağın mütevazı bir resmini çizmesine rağmen Vattimo, kanaatimizce, koine olarak hermenötiği Hıristiyan söylemine indirgeme hatasına düşmektedir. Öte yandan Vattimo, “postmodern zamanlarda” ateist olmanın ne olduğuna dair kendine özgü ve günümüz şartlarına uymayan bir anlayışa sahiptir. Bu bağlamda, ateist argümanların olası yanıtlarını yanlış kavrayan Vattimo, dini yaklaşımı yalnızca diğer dinler ve çeşitli geleneklerle değil, aynı zamanda ateizmle de karşılaştırarak “güçlü” hâle getirerek zayıf düşüncesini (il pensiero debole) dedriske atmaktadır. Son olarak, Vattimo’nun “geri dönüş” retoriğinin Hristiyanlığın geleceğine ilişkin köktenci bir yaklaşım oluşturmaya mahkum olduğunu iddia edeceğiz.

Kaynakça

  • Caputo, John D. “Dialogue: On the Power of the Powerless”. After the Death of God. ed. Jeffrey W. Robbins. 114-160. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
  • Caputo, John D. “Spectral Hermeneutics: On the Weakness of God and the Theology of the Event”. After the Death of God. ed. Jeffrey W. Robbins. 47-85. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
  • Carravetta, Peter. Prefaces to the Diaphora: Rhetorics, Allegory, and the Interpretation of Postmodernity. Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 1991.
  • Carravetta, Peter. “Beyond Interpretation? On Some Perplexities Following Upon Vattimo’s Turn from Hermeneutics”. Between Nihilism and Politics: The Hermeneutics of Gianni Vattimo. ed. Silvia Benso and Brian Schroeder. 79-97. Albany: SUNY Press, 2010.
  • Carravetta, Peter. “The End(s) of Subjectivity and the Hermeneutic Task”. Introduction to Gianni Vattimo, Beyond the Subject: Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Hermeneutics. tr. Peter Carravetta. ix-xxvii. Albany: SUNY Press, 2019.
  • Derrida, Jacques. Writing and Difference. tr. Alan Bass. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1978. Dotolo, Carmelo. “The Hermeneutics of Christianity and Philosophical Responsibility”. Weakening Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Gianni Vattimo. ed. Santiago Zabala. 348-368. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007.
  • Frankenberry, Nancy. “Weakening Religious Belief: Vattimo, Rorty, and the Holism of the Mental”. Weakening Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Gianni Vattimo. ed. Santiago Zabala. 273-296. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007.
  • Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Truth and Method. tr. Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall. London & New York: Bloomsbury, 2013.
  • Girard, Réne. Violence and the Sacred. tr. Patrick Gregory. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977.
  • Girard, Réne. “Dialogue: Christianity and Modernity”. Christianity, Truth and Weakening Faith: A Dialogue. ed. Pierpaolo Antonello. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.
  • Girard, Réne. “Dialogue: Hermeneutics, Authority, Tradition”. Christianity, Truth, and Weakening Faith: A Dialogue. ed. Pierpaolo Antonello. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.
  • Heidegger, Martin. “The Word of Nietzsche: ‘God is Dead’”. The Question Concerning Technology, and Other Essays. tr. William Lovitt. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.
  • Risser, James. “On the Continuation of Philosophy: Hermeneutics as Convalescence”. Weakening Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Gianni Vattimo. ed. Santiago Zabala. 184-202. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007.
  • Rorty, Richard. “Heideggerianism and Leftist Politics”. Weakening Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Gianni Vattimo. ed. Santiago Zabala. 149-158. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007.
  • Rorty, Richard. “Anticlericalism and Atheism”. The Future of Religion. ed. Santiago Zabala. 29-41. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
  • Valgenti, Robert T. “Vattimo’s Nietzsche”. Interpreting Nietzsche: Reception and Influence. ed. Ashley Woodward. 149-163. London & New York: Bloomsbury, 2011.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “The Crisis of Subjectivity from Nietzsche to Heidegger”. Differentia 1 (1986), 5-21.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. The Adventure of Difference: Philosophy after Nietzsche and Heidegger. tr. Cyprian Blamires. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “The Truth of Hermeneutics”. Questioning Foundations: Truth, Subjectivity, and Culture. ed. Hugh J. Silverman. 11-28. New York: Routledge, 1993.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “The Trace of Trace”. Religion. ed. Jacques Derrida and Gianni Vattimo. 79-94. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. After Christianity. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “Dialogue: What Is Religion's Future After Metaphysics?”. The Future of Religion. ed. Santiago Zabala. 55-81. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “The Age of Interpretation”. The Future of Religion. ed. Santiago Zabala. 43-54. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. Dialogue with Nietzsche. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “Dialogue: Christianity and Modernity”. Christianity, Truth and Weakening Faith: A Dialogue. ed. Pierpaolo Antonello. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “Dialogue: Faith and Relativism”. Christianity, Truth and Weakening Faith: A Dialogue. ed. Pierpaolo Antonello. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “Toward a Nonreligious Christianity”. After the Death of God. ed. Jeffrey W. Robbins. 27-46. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “A Prayer for Silence”. After the Death of God. ed. Jeffrey W. Robbins. 89-113. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. Not Being God: A Collaborative Autobiography. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “Nihilism as Emancipation”. The Italian Difference: Between Nihilism and Biopolitics. ed. Lorenzo Chiesa and Alberto Toscano. 31-35. Melbourne: re. Press, 2009.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. “Dialectics, Difference, Weak Thought”. Weak Thought. ed. G. Vattimo and P.A. Rovatti. tr. Peter Carravetta. 39-52. Albany: SUNY Press, 2012.
  • Vattimo, Gianni. The Responsibility of the Philosopher. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012.
  • Vattimo, Gianni, and Santiago Zabala. Hermeneutic Communism: From Heidegger to Marx. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.
  • Zabala, Santiago. “The Pharmakons of Onto-theology”. Weakening Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Gianni Vattimo. ed. Santiago Zabala. 231-259. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007.
Toplam 34 adet kaynakça vardır.

Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil İngilizce
Konular 20. Yüzyıl Felsefesi, Kıta Felsefesi
Bölüm Makaleler
Yazarlar

Abdullah Başaran 0000-0001-9789-7456

Yayımlanma Tarihi 30 Aralık 2023
Gönderilme Tarihi 9 Ağustos 2023
Yayımlandığı Sayı Yıl 2023 Din, Felsefe ve Toplum

Kaynak Göster

ISNAD Başaran, Abdullah. “Weak Thought and Religion in Gianni Vattimo: Implications and Repercussions”. Hitit İlahiyat Dergisi. Aralık 2023. 938-952. https://doi.org/10.14395/hid.1340172.

Hitit İlahiyat Dergisi Creative Commons Atıf 4.0 International License (CC BY NC) ile lisanslanmıştır.