Richard Rorty Critical Dialogues

by Festenstein, Matthew; Thompson, Simon

• ISBN13: 9780745621654
• ISBN10: 0745621651
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-11-28
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

Richard Rorty is one of the most influential and provocative figures in contemporary intellectual life. He argues that many of philosophy's traditional concerns are redundant, and that the goal of inquiry should not be truth but human betterment. In this collection a distinguished team of scholars grapple with the implications of his writings for social and political thought. Avoiding mindless adulation or ritual denunciation, they offer careful but critical investigations of the meaning of Rorty's work for a range of important issues. Topics explored include anti-foundationalism; irony and commitment; justice; liberalism and utopianism; reason and aesthetics; humanism and anti-humanism; the Holocaust; the theory of international relations; social democracy and the pragmatist tradition. Each essay is followed by a reply written for this volume by Rorty. The volume also includes a substantial essay by Rorty on Justice as a larger Loyalty. This volume is indispensable for any reader interested in Rorty's work, or in contemporary debates in social, political or ethical theory. Contributors: Molly Cochran; Daniel Conway; Matthew Festenstein; Norman Geras; John Horton; David Owen; Richard Rorty; Kate Soper; Simon Thompson.

Author Biography

Matthew Festenstein isLecturer in Politics, University of Sheffield and Simon Thompson is Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of the West of England

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
List of Contributors	viii
Richard Rorty: Pragmatism, Irony and Liberalism	1	(14)
Matthew Festenstein
Irony and Commitment: An Irreconcilable Dualism of Modernity	15	(18)
John Horton
Response to John Horton	29	(4)
Richard Rorty
Richard Rorty on Truth, Justification and Justice	33	(22)
Simon Thompson
Response to Simon Thompson	51	(4)
Richard Rorty
Irony, State and Utopia: Rorty's `We' and the Problem of Transitional Praxis	55	(38)
Daniel Conway
Response to Daniel Conway	89	(4)
Richard Rorty
The Avoidance of Cruelty: Joshing Rorty on Liberalism, Scepticism and Ironism	93	(22)
David Owen
Response to David Owen	111	(4)
Richard Rorty
Richard Rorty: Humanist and/or Anti-humanist?	115	(19)
Kate Soper
Response to Kate Soper	130	(4)
Richard Rorty
Reason and Aesthetics between Modernity and Postmodernity: Habermas and Rorty	134	(24)
Richard Shusterman
Response to Richard Shusterman	153	(5)
Richard Rorty
Progress without Foundations?	158	(18)
Norman Geras
Response to Norman Geras	171	(5)
Richard Rorty
Rorty's Neo-pragmatism: Some Implications for International Relations Theory	176	(27)
Molly Cochran
Response to Molly Cochran	200	(3)
Richard Rorty
Pragmatism, Social Democracy and Political Argument	203	(20)
Matthew Festenstein
Response to Matthew Festenstein	219	(4)
Richard Rorty
Justice as a Larger Loyalty	223	(15)
Richard Rorty
Index	238