Philosophy Forum

Read Topic
Reply

Richard Rorty likes Vaseline

Philosophy Forum
» Twentieth Century Philosophers
» Richard Rorty likes Vaseline

Get Email Updates • Email this Topic • Print this Page

He's a slippery guy, old Rorty. I picked up his Essays first from the Library. Then I read the rest, or all I could find. Anyone else tuned into this well-intentioned sophist?

Richard Rorty - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Contingency, irony, and solidarity - Google Books
Essays on Heidegger and others - Google Books
Objectivity, relativism, and truth - Google Books

@Reconstructo,

Surely someone reads him?

@Reconstructo,

I studied him a bit through some secondary literature in epistemology. I have yet to pick anything up by him because I haven't got around to it yet.

@Theaetetus,

Theaetetus;114863 wrote:

I studied him a bit through some secondary literature in epistemology. I have yet to pick anything up by him because I haven't got around to it yet.

You may not even when you do pick up something from him. Or if you do, you might want to get rid of it.

@Theaetetus,

Theaetetus;114863 wrote:

I studied him a bit through some secondary literature in epistemology. I have yet to pick anything up by him because I haven't got around to it yet.

His essays on Wittgenstein & Heidegger are great.

@Reconstructo,

Reconstructo;115816 wrote:

His essays on Wittgenstein & Heidegger are great.

I don't really like either philosopher. Just not my cup of tea.

@Theaetetus,

I've seen this book of his, The Mirror of Nature, or something. Its a gazillion pages long, surpassing Kant's Reason surely. I don't think I have even looked at the table of contents in it. I'm rather partial to Putnam for his research; I am however ignorant of Rorty. What makes him glimmer in those essays on Wittgenstein and Heidegger? Can I find them online or in PDF format?

-MJ

@Theaetetus,

Theaetetus;115857 wrote:

I don't really like either philosopher. Just not my cup of tea.

Well, both are often boring reads. But Rorty boils them down, compares them and puts them in context. George Steiner wrote a great little book on Heidegger just as Kojeve wrote a great little book on Hegel. I think the Germans are worth the trouble. Rorty writes tastefully in English, and this another reason I like him. He doesn't waste your time with fluff.

All too many philosophers do waste your time with fluff.

---------- Post added 12-31-2009 at 06:22 PM ----------

jack;115920 wrote:

Can I find them online or in PDF format?

-MJ

Check my first post. Read the essays first, or Contingency, Irony, and Solidairty. They are brief and potent. The Mirror of Nature is good but not as concise.

Rorty's essays are like Schopenhauer's. To the point!

@Reconstructo,

I encountered Rorty's work at the Science and Nonduality conference in October. I had read the Wikipedia entry previously and a few other quotations and abstracts. I will have a look at some of the online resouces you provided - I am very interested in that topic, Objectivity Relativism and Truth. Thanks.

@Reconstructo,

The link you provided to the essays cuts off before Wittgenstein is discussed. That is an essay I would like to read, since W does say he is to be like a mirror. So that is crucial, I think, in getting to know Mr. Rorty.

Aside from that, a chapter entitled Postmodern Bourgeois Liberalism made me laugh.

@jack phil,

jack;116003 wrote:

The link you provided to the essays cuts off before Wittgenstein is discussed. That is an essay I would like to read, since W does say he is to be like a mirror.

.

Ludwig Wittgenstein (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

@Reconstructo,

Reconstructo;114776 wrote:

He's a slippery guy, old Rorty. I picked up his Essays first from the Library. Then I read the rest, or all I could find. Anyone else tuned into this well-intentioned sophist?

Richard Rorty - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Contingency, irony, and solidarity - Google Books
Essays on Heidegger and others - Google Books
Objectivity, relativism, and truth - Google Books

Never read him; but I like him already...If he liked axle grease mixed with sand, me no like...

@Reconstructo,

I would like to see Rorty's essay on Wittgenstein, not Stanford's. I am quite fond of the analogy of Wittgenstein as a Mirror. Consider Russell who thought W was a sure sign of genius and would continue Russell's work when he left off; as well as Russell's dismissal of the Mystical in the TLP- Russell thinks he is the smartest person in the world, and later works of his, such as "Why I am not a Christian", would only make clear what was obvious in his introduction to the TLP.

I myself find W to be quite poetic and extremely ethical, which I guess is my reflection.

So, what does Rorty say and where can I find it as the link provided does not work?

Sorry to repeat myself, but maybe I was not clear the first time.

@jack phil,

jack;116121 wrote:

I would like to see Rorty's essay on Wittgenstein, not Stanford's. I am quite fond of the analogy of Wittgenstein as a Mirror.

So, what does Rorty say and where can I find it as the link provided does not work?

Sorry to repeat myself, but maybe I was not clear the first time.

Wittgenstein is a mirror? Never heard of that. What would that mean. (Of course, Wittgenstein did a lot of reflection. Maybe that is what is meant?) Stick to Stanford. You'll learn something.

@kennethamy,

Ah, I think I am speaking past you Kenneth.

I have read plenty of Stanford. I asked for a particular essay which was referenced and linked falsely. That is the OP.

"I ought to be no more than a mirror, in which my reader can see his own thinking with all its deformities so that, helped in this way, he can put it right."
-Ludwig Wittgenstein

You should read less Stanford. You'll learn something. Razz

-MJ

@jack phil,

jack;116210 wrote:

Ah, I think I am speaking past you Kenneth.

I have read plenty of Stanford. I asked for a particular essay which was referenced and linked falsely. That is the OP.

"I ought to be no more than a mirror, in which my reader can see his own thinking with all its deformities so that, helped in this way, he can put it right."
-Ludwig Wittgenstein

You should read less Stanford. You'll learn something.

-MJ

Well, he doesn't say he is a mirror. But let that go. My point was that you would learn a lot more from Stanford than you possibly could from Rorty. In fact, Wittgenstein did use the mirror analogy in a different place. He wrote that when an ape looks into a mirror, he should not expect to see an apostle looking out at him.

@kennethamy,

kennethamy;116212 wrote:

Well, he doesn't say he is a mirror. But let that go. My point was that you would learn a lot more from Stanford than you possibly could from Rorty. In fact, Wittgenstein did use the mirror analogy in a different place. He wrote that when an ape looks into a mirror, he should not expect to see an apostle looking out at him.

Actually; he should not even see an ape looking at him, but a reflection of an ape...His expecations are another matter...It is amazing how thouroughly intelligent people can cloud up their meaning with cant...

@Reconstructo,

I like Rorty's work. Even if one doesn't agree with him, he's still got interesting things to say and he's a terrific writer. The only problem is that his thinking became pretty redundant after Consequences of Pragmatism and Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. So many of his lectures and essays after that point were comparisons of different philosophers on some topic or other. They seemed very formulaic and usually made the same point about the need to reject representationalism and foundationalism in metaphyiscs and epistemology, and the need to accept liberalism when it comes to moral and political philosophy.

@Reconstructo,

Insty;
You have painted the portrait of an Idiot, and not a philosopher...

@Fido,

Fido;122382 wrote:

Insty;
You have painted the portrait of an Idiot, and not a philosopher...

Oh, I see. Thanks for clearing that up.

Philosophy Forum
» Twentieth Century Philosophers
» Richard Rorty likes Vaseline

Read Topic
Reply

Philosophy Forum

Richard Rorty likes Vaseline

Quick Links

My Account

able2know