Richard RortyThinkers

The Cultural left (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the post-sixties left which became overly theoretical, overly philosophical, caught up in endless debates about identity, cultural differences, recognition, and symbolic representation. Rather than labor struggles its struggles are circular.

Democracy (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠primarily a tool for those who are suffering.

Education (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠edification, understood as a project of finding new, better, more interesting, more fruitful ways of speaking by making connections between different cultures or disciplines. Edification must be concerned to inculcate a sense of social justice and an ironic detachment from the mores of society.

Education (n.) must ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠inculcate a disposition of social justice on the one hand and an ironic detachment from all the mores of society including those that reflect a rawlsian conception of justice.

Epistemology (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠dependent upon a picture of the mind trying to faithfully represent (or mirror) a mind-independent, external reality. It is a wrong-headed search for the foundations of knowledge.

Evolution (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not an 'evolution toward' but an 'evolution from,' and a species is complicated not because it is closer to a perfectly complicated being than which nothing more complicated is possible... rather, it is seen in comparison to some other species that is less complicated.

Evolution (n.) is, ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠when considered a 'struggle', a specifically masculist way of describing the process. Why not see nature as bounteous, rather than parsimonious, and admit that opportunity and cooperation are more likely to abet novelty, innovation and creation than are struggle and competition'.

Foundationalism (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the wrongheaded belief that there is a set of self-evident premises which form the foundations to all knowledge.

Foundationalism (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠wrongheaded as a metaphysical claim that knowledge can be justified by by tracing it back to self-evident premises on the one hand, and on the other it is wrongheaded as a claim of philosophy to function foundationally within a culture.

Hermeneutics (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠simply 'knowledge without foundations'. . . And thus, simply edifying conversation.

Historicism (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠an approach toward history which works to undermine all claims to certainty of knowledge, whether in the scientific or political realm.