Presentation

UPF Center for Vattimo’s Philosophy and Archives

Gianni Vattimo’s archives were inaugurated on June 6, 2016, at the auditorium of the Ciutadella Campus of Pompeu Fabra University. The archives, donated by Professor Vattimo (University of Turin), include his university courses, seminars, notes, correspondence, and unpublished material. Given Vattimo’s numerous television appearances, ranging from cultural debates to courses broadcast on national television, the archives also contain many audio and visual recordings. They are housed in the UPF General Library, in the center of the Dipòsit de les Aigües Building, which offers a privileged working environment for researchers. In addition to classifying the archives together with the Library staff, the Center organizes international conferences, seminars, and workshops to promote the Italian thinker’s philosophy in relation to art, religion, politics, and science.

Gianni Vattimo (Turin, 1936–2023)

He was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Turin and a former Member of the European Parliament. He studied in Turin under the existentialist Luigi Pareyson and graduated in 1959. After studying with Karl Löwith and Hans-Georg Gadamer in Heidelberg, he became assistant professor (1964), Professor of Aesthetics (1969), and finally Professor of Theoretical Philosophy (1982–2009) at the University of Turin, where he also served as Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy during the 1970s. He was a visiting professor at several American universities (Yale, Los Angeles, New York University, Columbia University, and the State University of New York), led academic seminars, and gave lectures around the world. He also received numerous honorary degrees from universities in different countries.

His books have been translated into more than twenty languages and have influenced generations of philosophers around the world.

Honors and public activity

Vattimo was appointed Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1997), was a member of the Accademia delle Scienze in Turin, and received the Max Planck Research Award, the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thinking (2002), the Georgetown President’s Medal (2006), and the Círculo de Bellas Artes Gold Medal (2019). In 2008, he delivered the prestigious Gifford Lectures at the University of Glasgow. In addition to serving on the scientific committees of several international academic journals, he was a columnist for Italian publications (La Stampa, l’Espresso, l’Europeo, Il Manifesto, l’Unità, and Il Fatto Quotidiano) and foreign newspapers (The Guardian, El País, and Clarín, among others).