Journal Article

Politics and Acquiesence in Rorty's Pragmatism

Festenstein, Matthew

2003

Overview

Following a brief delineation of three generic pragmatist commitments -- radical holism, fallibilism, & the primacy of practice -- attention turns to claims of acquiescence in Richard Rorty's pragmatism & to a critical reconstruction of his arguments intended toward showing if his work can fend off such charges. Rorty's account of normativity & community is demonstrated to provide sufficient resources for social criticism. Further, charges that it cannot accommodate a notion of internal criticism or the criticism of an accepted consensus & that it renders external criticism arbitrary are answered. Three ways in which concerns about Rortyan acquiescence can be restated are offered: (1) Its fallibilism opens up core ethical principles to revision. (2) Rorty's work evidences a necessarily nonrevisionary account of norms & community. (3) Rorty's liberal ethnocentrism is seen to cultivate an unreflective attitude toward liberal values & practices. It is concluded that Rorty's pragmatism can allow for salient social criticism in its framing of identities, norms, & communities. 57 References. J. Zendejas

• Subject: Pragmatism / Rorty, Richard / Social Criticism / Theoretical Problems