Defending Rorty: Pragmatism And Liberal Virtue
by William M. Curtis /
2015 / English / PDF
2.5 MB Download
Liberal democracy needs a clear-eyed, robust defense to deal with
the increasingly complex challenges it faces in the twenty-first
century. Unfortunately much of contemporary liberal theory has
rejected this endeavour for fear of appearing culturally hegemonic.
Instead, liberal theorists have sought to gut liberalism of its
ethical substance in order to render it more tolerant of
non-liberal ways of life. This theoretical effort is misguided,
however, because successful liberal democracy is an
ethically-demanding political regime that requires its citizenry to
display certain virtues and habits of mind. Against the grain of
contemporary theory, philosopher Richard Rorty blends American
pragmatism and romanticism to produce a comprehensive vision of
liberal modernity that features a virtue-based conception of
liberal democracy. In doing so, Rorty defends his pragmatic
liberalism against a host of notable interlocutors, including
Charles Taylor, Nancy Fraser, Hilary Putnam, Richard J. Bernstein,
and Jean Bethke Elshtain.
Liberal democracy needs a clear-eyed, robust defense to deal with
the increasingly complex challenges it faces in the twenty-first
century. Unfortunately much of contemporary liberal theory has
rejected this endeavour for fear of appearing culturally hegemonic.
Instead, liberal theorists have sought to gut liberalism of its
ethical substance in order to render it more tolerant of
non-liberal ways of life. This theoretical effort is misguided,
however, because successful liberal democracy is an
ethically-demanding political regime that requires its citizenry to
display certain virtues and habits of mind. Against the grain of
contemporary theory, philosopher Richard Rorty blends American
pragmatism and romanticism to produce a comprehensive vision of
liberal modernity that features a virtue-based conception of
liberal democracy. In doing so, Rorty defends his pragmatic
liberalism against a host of notable interlocutors, including
Charles Taylor, Nancy Fraser, Hilary Putnam, Richard J. Bernstein,
and Jean Bethke Elshtain.