Tag Archives: richard rorty

Glasses, Not Mirrors: Richard Rorty’s Whole Philosophy In 900 Words

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

I’m going to try to sum up the whole of Richard Rorty’s philosophy in just 900 words. Do you suppose I can do it? Here goes. The religionist, the scientist, and the ironist. There are three types of people in … Continue reading →

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Ludwig Wittgenstein for Beginners

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Santi Tafarella

First thought. To get a handle on the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, one can start with a simple question: what does the scientist (as opposed to the philosopher) do and accomplish? The answer seems pretty straightforward. The scientist reasons and experiments … Continue reading →

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Should Liberals Have a Scientistic or Poetic Vision for Society?

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

This is a question that Stanford philosopher Richard Rorty used to ask, and he put it another way as well: is it the scientist or the poet who is (or should be) the liberal’s hero? Or to put it yet another way: Is a human … Continue reading →

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Richard Rorty on Making Ethical Choices in a Godless Universe

Posted on January 29, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

I think that Richard Rorty is right about this, but it’s a bit jarring to read it stated so directly and matter-of-factly. The quote comes from Rorty’s essay, “Kant vs. Dewey” (in the last collection of his papers, Philosophy as Cultural … Continue reading →

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Adam Kirsch Reviews Zeev Sternhell’s New Book on the Enlightenment v. Romanticism

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

Are you an Enlightenment universalist, a brooding Romantic, or a Rorty-like Pragmatist trying to split the difference? Regardless of your answer, a new book has just come out with a very definite point of view on the question (the author … Continue reading →

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The Contemporary World’s Metaphysical and Epistemic Grand Canyon: Are You a Brooding Romantic or a Rational Universalist?

Posted on January 9, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

In his essay, “Grandeur, profundity, and finitude“, atheist pragmatist philosopher, Richard Rorty, tries to walk us back from what he sees as our two chief metaphysical and epistemic precipices: romanticism and rational universalism. He starts with romanticism (84): The romantics became convinced … Continue reading →

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How I Combine Richard Rorty’s Atheist Pragmatism with My “Spiritual Agnosticism”

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

It ain’t easy, and it requires a bit of Kant and Kierkegaard to get there, but below is what I believe at this point in my life, and how I have arrived at believing it. First, here is what I … Continue reading →

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Lost in the Cosmos: Language and Irony

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

Once you acknowledge (as I do) that the universe appears, paradoxically, as either self-created or always existent, and that it consists of atoms and the void and nothing else, then there is nothing in that universe that can tell you, as … Continue reading →

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Where are We? (And Why I’m an Agnostic)

Posted on January 3, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

In asking, existentially, where we are, I think that there are two great facts and three great questions: It appears that we live within a paradox—a universe that made itself or has always existed. It also appears that the universe consists … Continue reading →

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Richard Rorty in the Gospel of Matthew—or the Reification of Just One Way of Being in the World?

Posted on January 1, 2010 by Santi Tafarella

In Matthew is a curiously ironic parable, told by Jesus, that strikes me as something that the neopragmatist Stanford philosopher, Richard Rorty, might have told when he was alive, with proper theatrics, as a joke. In other words, if you think that there is … Continue reading →

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I Love Richard Rorty

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

Richard Rorty on “Truth” (with a capital “T”) v. merely human democratic justification via rhetoric and persuasion:

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I Am an Empatheist

Posted on July 11, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

Atheist biologist Jerry Coyne asked his blog readers today to coin one word that could be used for atheists who are accomodating—rather than combative—in their attitudes toward religion. Here was my response: Since you’re obviously talking about people like me, maybe … Continue reading →

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What Might I Substitute for Empiricism in Getting at the Truth of Ultimate Questions?

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

I would say nothing. I think that empiricism and reason are the best that we can do. So then why, as an agnostic, am I defending (in a previous post) Francis Collins’s explicitly theological gestures? Here’s why: I think that, with … Continue reading →

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As Non-Empirical Languages, Do Philosophical Systems Have Greater Epistemic Validity Than Theological Systems?

Posted on July 8, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

I would say no. When we are dealing with non-empirical (that is, non-scientific) languages, I don’t think that you can give substantially greater epistemic weight to the conclusions of philosophers over those of theologians. When I think of some of the … Continue reading →

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Does Meaning Reside in Facts—or Our Descriptions of Those Facts?

Posted on March 14, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

I bet you can guess my vote. I think that our languages never perfectly correspond with the world “as it is” and so we derive our meanings from our eccentric descriptions of “the facts.” Here’s an example. Since the publication … Continue reading →

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Why Science Will Never Be a Hegemonic Language That Causes Religion and Poetry to Go Extinct

Posted on March 3, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

Even if we arrive at a complete scientific language that accounts for the existence of everything in the universe in a functional fashion, we will still be up against an ontological mystery (the mystery of being itself), and we will … Continue reading →

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Why I’m an Agnostic: Believers, Nonbelievers, and the Waving of Intellectual Garlic

Posted on February 28, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

The existence of the universe is a mystery. And we are, all of us, embedded in that mystery, and so we need to keep talking about it, like Jacob wrestling the angel, and not drive it away as if it … Continue reading →

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Let a Thousand Languages Bloom: Scientific Reductionism and Its Tension with Other Ways of Talking About the World

Posted on January 9, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

Although I am an agnostic, I think that scientific reductionism is frequently in danger of “giving away the moon” metaphorically. Wordsworth said, “We murder to dissect.” I’m okay with reductionism (who isn’t?) so long as it leaves plenty of other … Continue reading →

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What Are Languages For?

Posted on January 9, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

I agree with the philosopher Richard Rorty that languages are tools. And in the context to which these tools are applied, their value—including their truth value—can then be judged. You fly airplanes with scientific language, and you fly romances with poetic … Continue reading →

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Does Scientific Language Carry More Truth Than Poetic Language?

Posted on January 9, 2009 by Santi Tafarella

I don’t think so. If I hurt myself on a ski slope, I want scientific language spoken over me between medics and doctors, but if I die from my injuries, I want my wife and friends to read poems over … Continue reading →

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