Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.
James Tartaglia KeeleUniversity j.tartaglia@keele.ac.uk I Onthefaceofit,itiseasytoimagineRichardRortyasanenthusiasticadvocateof cultural exchange with non-Western philosophy, given the potential this offers for expandingintellectualhorizonsandescapingwhatRortyregardedastheparochialismofcontemporaryWesternphilosophy.Afterall,hefamouslyhadlittlerespectfor theboundarybetweentheanalyticandcontinentalphilosophytraditions,withhis freeandunselfconscioususeofHeidegger'sideas,inparticular,beingamajorfactor in helping them gain respectability within Anglo-American philosophy (Guignon 1986,p.401).PerhapsRorty'smostprominentannouncementofhisdisregardfor philosophical boundaries came at the beginning of Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature,wherehelistedhismaininfluencesasDewey,Heidegger,andWittgenstein, andthenlumpedthemtogetheras"therapeutic"philosopherswho"setaside"rather than"argueagainst"traditionalepistemologyandmetaphysics(Rorty1979,pp.57). Despitetheapparentgulfbetweenthesefigures,then,Rortyhadnoqualmsabout attributingacommonmessagetothem,withhisinstinctiveeclecticismbackedupby themetaphilosophicalclaimthat,"thedifferencebetween`analytic'andothersorts ofphilosophyisrelativelyunimportant matterofstyleandtraditionratherthana --a differenceof`method'oroffirstprinciples"(ibid.,p.8).Youmighthaveexpectedhim tosaythesameofnon-Westernphilosophy. Given that Rorty was renowned for his ecumenical approach, then, and specializedinfindingunlikelyaffinities,piecingideastogetherwithhisself-professed "talentforbricolage"(Knobe1995),heseemsexactlythekindofphilosopherwho wouldwanttoincludenon-Westernphilosophersamongthealreadymyriadpoints of reference within his works. Moreover the philosophical ideas of Zhuangzi, the Samkhyaschool,andDgen,forinstance,allseemrathermorenaturalchoicesthan thenovelistsandpoetswho,fromthemid-1980sonward,didbecomecentraltohis work.ButquiteapartfromthecircumstantialevidenceofRorty'sreputationforopenmindedness and readiness to step outside the analytic fold, the most compelling reasontothinkthatRortywouldembracenon-Westernphilosophyistobefoundat theveryheartofhisthinking. Afterattemptingtohistoricallydeconstructandtherebyunderminetherepresentationalismandfoundationalismofpost-KantianWesternphilosophyinPhilosophy PhilosophyEast&WestVolume64,Number4October201410181038 ©2014byUniversityofHawai`iPress and the Mirror of Nature, Rorty ended his book with the positive proposal that e pistemology and the search forknowledge be replaced byhermeneutics andthe searchforedification,whereedificationisconceivedasaprojectofself-creationand unceasingdevelopment,accomplishedbyfindingever-newandmoreusefulwaysto describe ourselves, others, and the world around us.1 Unlike the epistemological searchfortheobjectivetruth,Rortyconceivedtheprojectofedificationashavingno terminatingpoint,beingratheran"infinitestriving "fornewdescriptionsthatincorporatenewpointsofview(Rorty1979,p.377);heaccordedthehighestsignificance to this project, holding that "redescribing ourselves is the most important thing wecando"(ibid.,pp.358359).Thus,whileepistemology-centeredphilosophy,accordingtoRorty,soughtuniversalcommensurationthroughthedevelopmentofan abstractmatrixofsensationsandconceptswithwhichtorenderalldiscoursescommensurate, thereby allowing their truth to be algorithmically adjudicated, Rorty's alternative of edification, by contrast, requires us actively to seek out and engage withincommensurablevocabularies. Thevalueofedifyingengagementwithincommensurablevocabularies,forRorty, is that it prevents culture from freezing over with intellectual complacency when old vocabularies become so entrenched as to be practically unquestionable;
Philosophy East and West – University of Hawai'I Press
Published: Nov 5, 2014
Read and print from thousands of top scholarly journals.
Already have an account? Log in
Bookmark this article. You can see your Bookmarks on your DeepDyve Library.
To save an article, log in first, or sign up for a DeepDyve account if you don’t already have one.
Copy and paste the desired citation format or use the link below to download a file formatted for EndNote
Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
All DeepDyve websites use cookies to improve your online experience. They were placed on your computer when you launched this website. You can change your cookie settings through your browser.