Richard Rorty, Emeritus Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University, died on Friday 8th June after a long illness. He taught philosophy at Yale, Wellesley College, Princeton University and the University of Virginia. Rorty won fellowships from the ACLS, Guggenheim, MacArthur and NEH Foundations and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Tributes to his contribution to twentieth-century thought appeared in yesterday’s British press.
Richard Rorty is one of today’s most celebrated philosophers. His pragmatism has attracted interest across a range of disciplines and it can said that his work is as well known in sociology as it is in philosophy. His opposition to the Iraq War brought into question his view that philosophy and politics do not mix, concerns addressed by earlier American pragmatists in whose tradition he situated his work: Charles Peirce, John Dewey and William James.
It is this practical application of his philosophy that has attracted the greatest criticism of Rorty. His view that literary culture is replacing the study of scientific philosophy, a trend he applauded, has led many scholars to challenge his right to be labelled “pragmatist”, particularly since the most important influence on his work is that of John Dewey, who is known for his humanist politics.
A sociological criticism in this vein is offered by Bryan Turner in the book he has just edited, together with Patrick Baert, Pragmatism and European Social Theory, Bardwell Press, 2007 due to be released tomorrow.
Doubtless papers to be delivered at the forthcoming international conference to be held in Romania, Democracy, Liberalism and the Relevance of Pragmatism/Neopragmatism for the Constituting of Political Ideologies – Interdisciplinary Approaches, will continue the debate. Though provocative at the lectern and in print, Richard Rorty is remembered by those who met him for his quiet manner and gentle humanity.
Richard Rorty’s books, which have been translated into many languages, include Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979); The Consequences of Pragmatism (1982); Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (1988); Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth Century America (1998); and Philosphy and Social Hope (2000).
For further information on pragmatism on the internet see Intute: Sociology: Sociological Theory.
