This brief text assists students in understanding Rorty's philosophy and thinking so that they can more fully engage in useful, intelligent class dialogue and improve their understanding of course content. Part of the "Wadsworth Philosophers Series," (which will eventually consist of approximately 100 titles, each focusing on a single "thinker" from ancient times to the present), ON RORTY is written by a philosopher deeply versed in the philosophy of this key thinker. Like other books in the series, this concise book offers sufficient insight into the thinking of a notable philosopher better enabling students to engage the reading and to discuss the material in class and on paper.

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.

The first comprehensive collection of the work of Richard Rorty (1931-2007), The Rorty Reader brings together the influential American philosopher’s essential essays from over four decades of writings. Offers a comprehensive introduction to Richard Rorty's life and body of work Brings key essays published across many volumes and journals into one collection, including selections from his final volume of philosophical papers, Philosophy as Cultural Politics (2007)) Contains the previously unpublished (in English) essay, “Redemption from Egotism” Includes in-depth interviews, and several revealing autobiographical pieces Represents the fullest portrait available today on Rorty’s relationship with American pragmatism and the trajectory of his thought

The Rorty-Habermas debate has been written on widely, but a full treatment of its importance had to wait until now. We have some historical distance from this exchange, which extended over three decades, and which touches upon the central concerns of numerous fields of study and of social organization. From law, to politics, to philosophy and communication theory, and including the basics of action, these two towering figures compare their forms of pragmatism. Marcin Kilanowski sets the debate in its historical and multilayered context, comparing it with criticism and commentary from his own viewpoint and from that of other important thinkers who observed and participated in the famous exchange. This book not only provides background in the history of philosophy for a general reader but also will be useful to those who need an abbreviated narrative and compendium of relevant sources for their own thinking and research. Kilanowski shows the points of convergence between Rorty and Habermas, and also examines the meaning of the outcome of their long exchange. Does the result get us any closer to a viable idea of freedom? Of responsibility? The book suggests some answers to these and other related questions.

Demonstrating Richard Rorty’s breadth of scholarship and his influence on diverse issues across the social sciences and humanities, this comprehensive bibliography contains 1,165 citations. A unique reference work on neo-pragmatism, this bibliography is essential for anyone researching Rorty’s work and its impact on philosophy, literature, the arts, religion, the social sciences, politics, and education.

Richard Rorty is notorious for contending that the traditional, foundation-building and truth-seeking ambitions of systematic philosophy should be set aside in favour of a more pragmatic, conversational, hermeneutically guided project. This challenge has not only struck at the heart of philosophy but has ricocheted across other disciplines, both contesting their received self-images and opening up new avenues of inquiry in the process. Alan Malachowski provides an authoritative overview of Rorty's considerable body of work and a general assessment of his impact both within philosophy and in the humanities more broadly. He begins by explaining the genesis of Rorty's central ideas, tracking their development from suggestions in his early papers through their crystallization in his groundbreaking book, "Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature". Malachowski evaluates some of the common criticisms of Rorty's position and his ensuing pragmatism. The book examines the subsequent evolution of his ideas, focusing particularly on the main themes of his second major work, Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity. The political and cultural impact of Rorty's writings on such diverse fields as feminism, cultural and literary theory, and international relations are also considered, and the author explores why Rorty's work has generally found its warmest reception in these areas rather than among mainstream philosophers.

Arguably the most influential of all contemporary English-speaking philosophers Richard Rorty has transformed the way many inside and outside philosophy think about the discipline and the traditional ways of practicing it. The essays in this volume offer a balanced exposition and critique of Rorty's views on knowledge, language, truth, science, morality and politics. The introduction presents a valuable overview of Rorty's philosophical vision.Written by a distinguished roster of philosophers, it will appeal, beyond philosophy, to students in the social sciences, literary studies, cultural studies and political theory.

The present book is devoted to "European connections of Richard Rorty’s neopragmatism". Rorty can be connected to numerous controversies, polemics and discussions with European philosophy and within its framework, from Plato to Kant to Hegel to Habermas to Derrida. Rorty gets into European discussions with American freshness and intellectual breadth and therefore he was listened to carefully and read with great interest. His connections with European philosophical tradition are manifold, complicated and diversified; with a part of it he remains in a serious, deep controversy (Plato, Kant), with another part of it he remains in a cheerful agreement (young Hegel from Phenomenology, Nietzsche, the early Heidegger, the late Wittgenstein). It is also the case with his connections with contemporary European philosophy - apart from favorites (Derrida, Habermas) there are those he dislikes (the late Heidegger, Foucault). Rorty as a philosopher of the unprecedented erudition, in his philosophizing takes a stance towards the whole philosophy which, from our perspective of more than twenty five hundred years and Greek origins of philosophical conceptuality is European first and foremost. We refer here to a polemical context of Rorty’s writing; it gives us the possibility of showing him from the perspective of others and in comparison with others. The present book never had monographic intentions, it does not want to tell a complete story of its philosophical protagonist in the manner of a German Bildungsroman that presents its hero from the perspective of passing time, nor does it want to present the whole of Rorty’s work from a unifying viewpoint or to present particular stages of Rorty’s development (particular books), starting with the "early" Rorty, with the "medium" one to the "late" Rorty, if the first would be supposed to be Rorty until Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, the second - Rorty from this book, and the latest - Rorty from Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity onwards. The book presented here intentionally is not a monograph, hence its poetics and architecture are different. Rorty is a philosopher who is still writing, and we intended to provide his past writings with a new dimension, presenting recontextualizations and redescriptions of them in the light of what he is thinking at the moment. We have assumed here the following principle: the work consists of chapters followed by "philosophical excursuses". The former are focused on Rorty’s philosophy, the latter show his philosophy in struggles with other contemporary and past philosophers, providing a more general philosophical background. Philosophers from "excursuses" as well as Rorty’s polemics with them throw as much light to his philosophy as chapters themselves. But they show it in a slightly different, wider perspective, necessary in my view for a more general and culturally significant understanding of importance of his philosophy. Thus, heroes of the excursuses presented here are Jacques Derrida, Jean-François Lyotard, Michel Foucault, Jürgen Habermas and Zygmunt Bauman, as well as such great past philosophical figures as G.W.F. Hegel and Plato. Why these philosophers rather than others? First of all, due to their importance to the development of Rorty’s philosophy - by means of defining its position with reference to their philosophical settlements or by means of philosophical tensions born between them. Two factors were decisive: the role played in Rorty’s philosophy as he can see it and the role played in it as we can see it. It is rather excursuses that provide most contextual material to Rorty’s work, it is them that trace in detail his European connections. The picture that emerges from them is fascinating due to Rorty’s versatility because it is something totally different that is at stake in Rorty’s struggles for fame and immortality with Derrida (as I am trying to outline the debate here), something else it at stake in his political discussions with Lyotard, and something still else in "merely philosophical", as he calls them, debates with Habermas. Without these contextual pieces I might be afraid that the book would be dry and devoid of the cultural surrounding of postmodernity in which Rorty’s work has been written. If Rorty’s philosophy takes its life juice from controversies with European philosophy, it is hard to imagine for me to cut them off in the present work; and they are essential in my view to show the significance of Rorty’s neopragmatism, they are in tune, I hope, with the Rortyan way of practising philosophy. CONTENTS Acknowledgments (5); Introduction (7); Chapter I. Philosophy of recontextualization, recontextualization of philosophy. General remarks (37); Philosophical Excursus I. Seriousness, play, and fame (on Rorty’s Derrida) (59); Chapter II. The question of self-creation (86); Philosophical Excursus II Rorty and Lyotard, or about conversation and tragedy (104); Chapter III Anti-Platonism of Rorty’s thought (133); Philosophical Excursus III Hegel’s presence in Rorty (159); Chapter IV Rorty and literature, or about the priority of the "wisdom of the novel” to the "wisdom of philosophy" (185); Philosophical Excursus IV The picture of an ironist who is unwilling to be a liberal, and of a liberal who is unwilling to be an ironist (Foucault and Habermas) (211); Chapter V Philosophy and politics, or about a romantic and a pragmatist (238); Philosophical Excursus V Rorty, Bauman, contingency, and solidarity (257); Bibliography (289).

Trained by some of the most eminent philosophers of the twentieth century, Richard Rorty has come to be one of the strongest critics of the philosophical tradition. In this book G. Elijah Dann takes seriously Rorty's writings, showing how, contrary to what many philosophers believe, he actually helps to enhance and enliven both the philosophy of religion and the chances for moral progress. Dann goes on to discuss Rorty's metaethics and reviews Rorty's well-known article, "Religion as Conversation-stopper," showing how the private/public distinction, though well-placed, needs adjustment. Contrary to Rorty's view that religious values should remain in the private realm, Dann maintains religious values can play an important role in the public square, albeit through a "translation" into secular terms. Finally the book explores how the history of philosophical interests shaped theological ones and Dann looks at Rorty's more recent thoughts about religion, particularly in his discussion with the Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo.

Without doubt Richard Rorty is one of the most honored, famous and disputed philosophers of our days. All over the world interest in his inspiring and provoking thoughts goes beyond the circles of academic philosophy. The present volume includes "The Brain as Hardware, Culture as Software" and "Philosophy-Envy" of Richard Rorty, papers presented by students of the philosophy department at university of Münster and Rorty's responses to and comments on them. Rorty's lecture has been publicly presented at the 8. Münstersche Vorlesungen zur Philosophie on may 26th 2004. The students presented their intensively prepared papers on the following day. The volume gives an overview of the main topics of his philosophy as well as a detailed analysis of central concepts. "The papers are of very high quality indeed, and the level of discussion during the day I spent with the students was equally high. I have never, in any university, encountered students who combined such detailed knowledge of my writings with such penetrating criticisms of my views." (Richard Rorty)