Abstract

This paper explores the importance of writing style to the philosophical achievement ofRichard Rorty. Famously contending that philosophy is not delimited by subject matter orgenre but is “a kind of writing”, Rorty wishes to view philosophy as a mode of discoursethat amounts to re-describing and narrating the history of philosophy. The very fact thatthese rhetorical perspectives are so privileged encourages us to consider the possibly figural dimension ofRorty’s own writing, the metaphorical investments that make his critical position possibleas well as the literary inflections of his prose. The key question, of course, is whetherthese rhetorical perspectives are constitutive of his writing; whether Rorty’s style, in fact,is as important as he claims. Beginning with an examination of the importance of “theliterary moment” and “the poetic” as Rorty conceives of them, I question whether thesetheoretical emphases are borne out in the practice of his writing. The possible tensionsbetween the style of Rorty’s writing and the foundational claims of his philosophy are myprimary concern