Irony’s Commitment: Rorty’s Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity

The European Legacy 19 (2):144-162 (2014)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

With Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity Richard Rorty tries to persuade us that a case for liberalism is better served by historical narrative than by philosophical theory. The liberal ironist is the complex protagonist of Rorty’s anti-foundationalist story. Why does Rorty think irony serves—rather than undermines—commitments to liberal democracy? I distinguish political from existential dimensions of irony, consider criticisms of Rorty’s ironist, and then draw on recent work by Lear to argue that Rorty’s ironist character nevertheless can be recast as an image useful to the self-understanding of contemporary liberal democrats.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 107,376

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-09-03

Downloads
67 (#357,577)

6 months
10 (#475,656)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Bjørn Ramberg
University of Oslo

Citations of this work

Two Forms of Realism.Yvonne Huetter-Almerigi - 2020 - European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 12 (1).
Finely aware and ironically responsible: Rorty and the functions of literature.E. D. Huckerby - 2024 - Studium Ricerca 120 (2, Philosophy & Literature):37-96.
Rorty, irony and the consequences of contingency for liberal society.Michael Bacon - 2017 - Philosophy and Social Criticism 43 (9):953-965.
Redeeming Rorty’s Private–Public Distinction.Tracy Llanera - 2016 - Contemporary Pragmatism 13 (3):319-340.
Redescribing Final Vocabularies.Mauro Santelli - 2020 - European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 12 (1).

View all 7 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

3 Rorty on Knowledge and Truth.Michael Williams - 2003 - In Charles Guignon & David R. Hiley, Richard Rorty. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 61.

Add more references