My paper deals with one of the most theoretically stimulating difficulties in metaphysics, namely, the issue of the impossibility of avoiding a confrontation with the principles. According to Vattimo, every 'strong' metaphysical claim, every metaphysics of principles, carries with it an inevitable violent and authoritarian consequence—violence that can manifest, in the realm of religion, as an authoritarian and despotic hierarchical Church, by virtue of a power understood as top-down domination. If it is true that, from a historical-practical point of view, Vattimo's thesis can find a sad and ample testimony in the history of the Church, the main argument I am presenting is that it is equally true that the issue of the role of principles in metaphysics and the issue of the role of a conception of truth based on universal principles cannot be assimilated on the same practical-empirical level. It is incorrect to speak of the violence of principles in the theoretical realm; violence occurs only from those who abuse the principles themselves in the realm of practical action.