A Question for Richard Rorty

Bibliographic Data

ID10436059
AuthorsChristopher M Duncan (0000-0002-0645-4762, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume66
Issue3
Pages385-414
Publication date2004-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Review of Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0034-6705 • E-ISSN: 1748-6858
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0034670500038845
OpenAlexW2043844256
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited29

This essay begins with the assumption that Richard Rorty means everything he says; its question, however, is ultimately why he says everything he means. Politically speaking, for someone who is unconstrained by metaphysical concerns about the “right” or the “good,” what counts is not being right, but being successful. Hence my question for Rorty is simply this: why be honest when deception might be more effective? I contend that in the context of American political culture that his honest practice of his philosophy undermines his politics. Unlike other critical accounts, mine focuses on his tactics and Rorty's own failure to accept the burdens and possibilities of his own theoretical work. I then offer Rorty a model of deception for his consideration from Miguel de Unamuno's short story “St. Emmanuel the Good, Martyr,” that he might have made use of had he been more interested in political results than in being thought honest

Context (archaeology · Deception · Epistemology · Metaphysics · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · History · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education · Wittgensteinian philosophy and applications