Description
Book SynopsisNeil Gascoigne provides the first comprehensive introduction Richard Rorty's work.
Trade Review“Richard Rorty was a much-admired and controversial philosopher, but why is he admired, and why is he controversial? Neil Gascoigne’s readable and interesting book answers both of these questions. Gascoigne writes with clarity and style, and shows a deep knowledge of Rorty’s writings and the motivations behind them. Anyone who wants to understand Rorty’s ideas as a whole, and their significance, should read this book. Highly recommended.”
Tim Crane, University College London
“This is an excellent--and, indeed, timely--book which substantially furthers our understanding of one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century.”
Duncan Pritchard, University of Edinburgh “Rorty’s neopragmatism is often presented as a sequence of slogans about mind, language, truth, solidarity, and the nature of philosophy. In this important new book, Neil Gascoigne looks beyond the catch phrases and provides a compelling account of Rorty’s philosophy, from his early work in philosophy of mind to his last writings on social hope. The Rorty that emerges is a far more formidable and systematic philosopher than one might expect.”
Robert Talisse, Vanderbilt University
Table of ContentsACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
INTRODUCTION: NO SINGLE VISION.
1. PHILOSOPHY AND POLITICS.
2. ACTOR AND MARTYR.
3. FAR, FAR AWAY….
CHAPTER 1: OUT OF MIND.
1. OUR RORTIAN ANCESTORS.
2. MATERIALISM AND THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM.
3. EXPLICATION, ELIMINATION, AND CONCEPTUAL CHANGE.
CHAPTER 2: WHAT IS ELIMINATIVE MATERIALISM?.
1. INTRODUCTION.
2. ANALYSIS, EXPLICATION AND ELIMINATION.
3. ELIMINATIVE MATERIALISM.
4. INCORRIGIBILIY.
5. TROUBLES WITH ELIMINATISM.
6. FAR, FAR AWAY, LIES….
CHAPTER 3: RORTY’S KEHRE.
1. INTRODUCTION.
2. REALISM AND REFERENCE.
3. SCEPTICISM, RELATIVISM, TRUTH.
CHAPTER 4: OVERCOMING PHILOSOPHY.
1. AFTER PHILOSOPHY?.
2. THE LINGUISTIC TURN.
3. THE FUTURE OF PHILOSOPHY.
4. WHITHER EPISTEMOLOGY?.
5. THE REAPPEARING ‘WE’.
6. IN CONVERSATION.
CHAPTER 5: NEW SELVES FOR OLD.
1. FROM EPISTEMOLOGY TO POLITICS.
2. DEWEY’S REDESCRIPTION.
3. CONTINGENCY, IRONY AND SOLIDARITY.
4. METAPHORLOSOPHY.
5. TWO CONCEPTS OF FREEDOM.
6. LIBERALISM AND THE LIMITS OF PHILOSOPHY.
7. THE LAST IRONIST.
CHAPTER 6: THE WHOLE TRUTH.
1. THE AUTHORITY OF NORMS.
2. THE VIEW FROM NOWHERE.
3. RELATIVISM REDUX.
4. TRIANGULATION.
CONCLUSION: THE ENDS OF PHILOSOPHY.
1. DOUBLE VISION.
2. NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH.
3. THE ENDS OF PHILOSOPHY.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
