Abstract

No recent philosopher has attempted to advance the pragmatic insights of William James and John Dewey, along with the romantic longings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman, more than Richard Rorty. However, Rorty spoke to more than just professional philosophers. His pragmatism resonated with legal historians, who recognized its roots in Holmesian realism; with pragmatic jurists, who appreciated its preference for “good” rather than “correct” decisions; and with legal philosophers, who trembled before its threat to render them useless to the legal academy. In this essay, I argue that Rortyan pragmatism advances both philosophy and social hope, using the evolution of gaylaw, from Bowers to Lawrence, as an example.