The End of Modernity: Nihilism and Hermeneutics in Postmodern Culture by Gianni Vattimo (review)

CLTRRENT LITERATLTRE I. Book Reviews Book ReviewPanel: RudolfArnheim,Eua Belik, John Bowlt, John w: Cooper, IgorV. Dolenko, ElmerDuncan, Robert S. Lansdon, Alan Lee, Joy TurnerLuke,John Mallinckrodt, David Pariser, Clifford Pickover, RosalindaSartorti, David Topper, Stephen Wilson. THE END OF MODERNITY: NIHIUSMAND HERMENEUTICS IN POSTMODERN CULTURE by Gianni Vattimo.Jon R. Snyder, trans. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore, MD, U.S.A., 1988. ISBN: 0-8018-3444-9. Reviewed by David Pariser, 167Dufferin Road, Hampstead, Quebec H3X 2Y2, Canada. Byway of in troduction, two points must be acknowledged: first, I am no philosopher and, second, from what I am able to make out, the philosophical position (nihilism) espoused by Vattimo is the extreme antithesis of my own naive positivism. The criticism and difficulties detailed in this review are very much a function of my own a priori convictions. Proceeding from these prefatory remarks, it is clear that the work in question is the product of sincere, committed erudition . I can only respond to the work as a secular observer might respond to a Talmudic study session in full swing; the observer will note evidence of deep fervor, elaborate displays of craft and scholarship, but the ultimate meaning (if this essentialist construct has any meaning at all for Vattimo ) of all of the activity escapes the understanding of outsiders because they do not share the faith of the fervent scholars whom they watch. My review consists of a synopsis, which relies heavily on the work of the translator Gon R. Snyder), and a following section that details some of the difficulties associated with Vattimo's material , and with deconstruction in general. Synopsis Vattimo's book is divided into four parts. Part one is the 50-page translator 's introduction. This is a wellwritten overview of the essayspresented in the text. Snyder explains how the various essays relate to each other, and he illuminates the underlying philosophical threads that bind the essays together. Included in this portion of the book are warnings akin to those found on ancient maps, alerting the hapless wayfarer that "there be lyons and monsters heer". Snyder takes the opportunity to warn the nonspecialist reader against the rigors of some of the more difficult chapters. The main body of the work is composed of the remaining three parts. The first is Nihilism as Destiny, which contains two essays: "An Apology for Nihilism" and 'The Crisis of Humanism". The second is the Truth ofArt, which consists of four essays: "The Death or Decline ofArt", 'The Shattering of the Poetic World", "Ornament /Monument" and 'The Structure ofArtistic Revolution", And the third is the End of Modernity, which also consists of four essays: "Hermeneutics and Nihilism", "Truth and Rhetoric in Hermeneutic Ontology", "Hermeneutics and Anthropology" and "Nihilism and Post-Modern Philosophy". The ideas of Nietzsche and Heidegger are the foundations or reference points for Vattimo's philosophical enterprise . According to Snyder, Vattimo 's project is an attempt "to develop a philosophical basis for understanding the closure of modernity and its consequences for the arts and sciences" (p. vi). As someone who operates within the traditions of European nihilism, Vattimo attempts to reduce truth to value: European nihilism is chiefly concerned with the dissolution of truth into value The project of nihilism is to unmask all systems of reason as systems of persuasion, and to show that logicthe very basis of rational metaphysical thought-is in fact only a kind of rhetoric . All thought that pretends to discover truth is but an expression of the will to power (p, xii). In part two of the book, devoted to nihilism and its relation to modern philosophy, Vattimo asserts the tenuous nature of both being and truth. Both are endangered species, in danger of dissolving and disappearing . (The claim is simply made as selfevident -although I found the rhetorical exercise inconclusive.) Continuing his exposition, Vattimo asserts that the postmodern world has become "infinitely interpretable". Truth, says Snyder, "can certainly be experienced by us (in an encounter with a work of art, for example) [but] it can never be appropriated and transmitted to others as a kind of rational knowledge" (p. xx). In part three, devoted to the truth of art, Vattimo deals with "theories of...