Who are we when we are ‘Us, at Our Best?’
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11340319 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Susan Dieleman (0000-0001-5854-7541, University of Lethbridge, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-22 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Philosophy & Social Criticism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0191-4537 • E-ISSN: 1461-734X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/01914537251380120 |
| OpenAlex | W4414399643 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 13 |
Recently, political commentators have taken to characterizing our dystopian present (or near-future) as either Huxleyan or Orwellian. This pairing can be seen as an invitation to reconsider the philosophical distinction between persuasion and force, a distinction the interrogation of which was a career-defining task for Richard Rorty. In this article, I suggest that Rorty’s interrogations, and specifically his claims regarding what it means to think of ourselves, at our best, can help us to gain a firmer grasp on the nature of the dystopian present (or near-future) we inhabit and of which contrasting pictures were offered by Huxley and Orwell
Dystopia · GRASP · Interrogation · Persuasion · Politics · Task (project management · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Foucault, Power, and Ethics
| Highly cited | No |
|---|