OUT NOW:

The ESSENCE OF NIHILISM

By Emanuele Severino

Edited by Alessandro Carrera and Ines Testoni

Translated by Giacomo Donis

A groundbreaking classic of contemporary philosophy for the first time in English translation

https://www.versobooks.com/books/2318-the-essence-of-nihilism

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Between 1961 and 1970, the Vatican Inquisition subjected Emanuele Severino to a thorough investigation. The “fundamental incompatibility” identified between his thought and Christian doctrine ejected him from his position as Professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University in Milan. The Essence of Nihilism, published in 1972, was the first book to follow his expulsion, and it established Severino’s preeminent position within the constellation of contemporary philosophy.

In this groundbreaking and classic book—now for the first time available in English—Severino reinterprets the history of Western philosophy as the unfolding of “the greatest folly,” that is, of the belief that “things come out of nothing and fall back into nothing.” According to Severino, such a typically Western understanding of reality has resulted in a conviction that there is a radical “nothingness” to existence. In turn, this justifies the treatment of the world as an object of exploitation, degradation and destruction.

To move beyond Western nihilism, suggests Severino, we must first of all “return to Parmenides.” Joining forces with the most venerable of Greek philosophers, Severino confutes nihilism’s “path of night”, and develops a new philosophy grounded on the principle of the eternity of reality and of every single existent thing.

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“The central problem of contemporary philosophy is a drama with only two protagonists: Heidegger and Severino. It is an irreconcilable relationship between these two positions: an aut-aut.” – Massimo Cacciari, author of The Witholding Power

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HARDBACK: OCTOBER 2016 / 384 PAGES / ISBN 9781784786106 / $95 / £60 / $123CAN

PAPERBACK: OCTOBER 2016 / 384 PAGES / ISBN 9781784786113 / $29.95 / £20 / $38.95CAN

AVAILABLE AS AN E-BOOK

https://www.versobooks.com/books/2318-the-essence-of-nihilism

For more information on university inspection/desk copies visit: http://www.versobooks.com/pg/desk-copies

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