Filozofija i drustvo 2010 Volume 21, Issue 2, Pages: 97-116
https://doi.org/10.2298/FID1002097P
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Rorty and contemporary social theory
Prodanović Srđan
The aim of this paper is to show certain aspects of Rorty’s philosophy that
are relevant to social theory, and also to point out the most important
divergences of Rorty’s insights from postmodern understanding of social
reality. Therefore, in the first part of the paper I will examine both
Rorty’s philosophy of edification and all relevant criticisms to his view of
philosophy “as a communication of mankind”. Furthermore, I will try to
establish to which extent Rorty’s understanding of contingency and its
implications really falls close to postmodern thought. I will also argue
that the impossibility of philosophical justification of social reality,
according to Rorty, does not entail impossibility of moral progress and that
the role of social theory is actually in raising the level of inclusion of
social interaction and in providing social hope. Moreover, it will be shown
that Rorty, unlike Foucault and Derrida, thought that the institutions of
Western democracy and liberalism are quite capable to achieve these goals
and that accomplishment of this liberal utopia greatly depends on the degree
of commitment to moral progress that all actors (writers, social scientists
and philosophers) within the cultural field share.
Keywords: communication, abnormal and normal discourse, edification, contingency, postmodernism, liberalism, utopia, social hope