A Companion to Rorty

A groundbreaking reference work on the revolutionary philosophy and intellectual legacy of Richard Rorty

A provocative and often controversial thinker, Richard Rorty and his ideas have been the subject of renewed interest to philosophers working in epistemology, metaphysics, analytic philosophy, and the history of philosophy. Having called for philosophers to abandon representationalist accounts of knowledge and language, Rorty introduced radical and challenging concepts to modern philosophy, generating divisive debate through the new form of American pragmatism which he advocated and the renunciation of traditional epistemology which he espoused.

However, while Rorty has been one of the most widely-discussed figures in modern philosophy, few volumes have dealt directly with the expansive reach of his thought or its implications for the fields of philosophy in which he worked. The Blackwell Companion to Rorty is a collection of essays by prominent scholars which provide close, and long-overdue, examination of Rorty's groundbreaking work. Divided into five parts, this volumecovers the major intellectual movements of Rorty's career from his early work on consciousness and transcendental arguments, to the lasting impacts of his major writings, to his approach to pragmatism and his controversial appropriations from other philosophers, and finally to his later work in culture, politics, and ethics.

• Offers a comprehensive, balanced, and insightful account of Rorty's approach to philosophy
• Provides an assessment of Rorty's more controversial thoughts and his standing as an "anti-philosopher's philosopher"
• Contains new and original exploration of Rorty's thinking from leading scholars and philosophers
• Includes new perspectives on topics such as Rorty's influence in Central Europe

Despite the relevance of Rorty's work for the wider community of philosophers and for those working in fields such as international relations, legal and political theory, sociology, and feminist studies, the secondary literature surrounding Rorty's work and legacy is limited. A Companion to Rorty address this absence, providinga comprehensive resource for philosophers and general readers.

Auteur

Alan Malachowski is Research Fellow at the Centre for Applied Ethics, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He has published extensively on both Richard Rorty and Pragmatism and has authored and edited many volumes, including Reading Rorty (Blackwell, 1990).

Texte du rabat

"Alan Malachowski's volume provides a synoptic view of Rorty's work--which spans six decades and several different philosophical conversations--and invites a wide variety of commentators, both sympathetic and critical, to a larger discussion about his legacies."
--Marianne Janack, John Stewart Kennedy Professor of Philosophy, Hamilton College

A provocative and often controversial thinker, Richard Rorty was an adventurous, wide-ranging, and influential American philosopher known for revitalizing pragmatism during the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. Celebrated for his critique of philosophical inquiry as an enterprise seeking epistemic objectivity and universal truth, Rorty's thought spans unusually broad intellectual territory, and has been the subject of renewed interested to philosophers working in epistemology, metaphysics, the history of philosophy, and contemporary analytic philosophy. Having called for philosophers to abandon representationalist accounts of knowledge and language, Rorty introduced radical and challenging concepts to philosophy, generating divisive debate by advocating for a new form of American pragmatism and renouncing traditional epistemology.

While Rorty has been one of the most widely-discussed figures in modern philosophy, few commentators have dealt directly with the expansive reach of his thought or its implications for the f ields in which he worked. A Companion to Rorty is a comprehensive collection of essays by prominent scholars which together examine Rorty's groundbreaking body of work. Divided into six constituent parts, this volume offers a compelling and representative survey of the major developments in Rorty's intellectual trajectory, from his training in the history of philosophy and early work on consciousness and transcendental arguments, to the lasting impact of the landmark scholarship that brought him international renown. Later chapters consider his approach to pragmatism with its controversial appropriations from other philosophers, and give particular attention to his work in culture, politics, and ethics which continues to resonate in a range of disciplines including sociology, international relations, legal and political theory, and feminist studies.

Indispensable in its own right, A Companion to Rorty is a mature and comprehensive reference resource for advanced students and professional philosophers looking to engage with Rorty's intellectual legacy, offering new insight into one of the major philosophical minds of the twentieth century.

Contenu

Preface and Acknowledgments viii Contributors ix Introduction: Rorty's Approach to Philosophy: Time for Reassessment 1 Alan Malachowski Prologue 9 1 Reading Rorty: A Sketch of a Plan 11 Danielle Macbeth Part I Early Developments 25 2 Was Rorty an Eliminative Materialist? 27 William Ramsey 3 Rorty's Philosophy of Consciousness 43 James Tartaglia 4 Rorty and Transcendental Arguments 59 Neil Gascoigne Part II Texts 79 5 Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature 81 James Tartaglia 6 The Uses of Philosophy after the Collapse of Metaphysics: Ironism and Liberalism in Rorty's Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity 100 Colin Koopman 7 Rhetoric Between Philosophy and Poetry: Rorty as Essayist 119 William M. Curtis 8 Rorty's Inspirational Liberalism 135 Richard J. Bernstein Part III Themes 147 9 Are Pragmatists About Truth True Democrats? 149 Pascal Engel 10 Richard Rorty and (the End of) Metaphysics (?) 163 David Macarthur 11 Rorty, Pragmatism, and Ethics: The Value of Hope 178 Marjorie C. Miller 12 The Center and Circumference of Knowledge: Rorty on Pragmatism and Romanticism 194 Isaac Nevo 13 Rorty and Analytic Philosophy 211 Gary Gutting 14 Speculative Pragmatism: Richard Rorty and the Hyperboles of Philosophy 229 Paul Trembath Part IV Appropriations 251 15 Rorty on Hegel on the Mind in History 253 Paul Redding 16 Rorty and the Mirror of Nietzsche 268 Steven Michels 17 The Truth of Being and the History of Philosophy 281 Mark Okrent 18 Rorty's Romantic Polytheism: The Influence of William James 297 Carol Nicholson 19 Inconvenient Conversational Partners: Rorty and Freud 312 Alan Malachowski 20 Rorty and Dewey 335 David L. Hildebrand 21 Common Understanding Without Uncommon Certainty: Rorty's Wittgenstein Revisited 357 Alan Malachowski 22 Rorty, Davidson, and Representation 370 Steven Levine 23 The Rorty-Habermas Debate: A Critical Appraisal 395 Anton A. van Niekerk Part V Culture, Politics, and Religion 411 24 Rorty and Literature 413 Serge Grigoriev 25 The Contested Marriage of Rorty and Feminism 427 Elizabeth Sperry 26 Rorty and Religion: Beyond the Culture Wars? 444 Molly B. Farneth 27 Rorty's Philosophy of Religion 456 Emil Visnovsk? 28 Rorty and the Intellectual Culture of Central Europe 467 Emil Visnovsk?, Alexander Krémer, and Krzysztof Piotr SkowroDski 29 Rorty and Nihilism 482 Tracy Llanera 30 Rorty's Ethics of Responsibility 490 Christopher J. Voparil Part VI Coda 505 31 Poetry as (a Kind of) Philosophy: For Richard Rorty 507 Christopher Norris Internet Resources 528 Index 529