Richard Rorty
American philosopher who argued knowledge is linguistic and contingent.
Richard Rorty was an American philosopher who became the most influential pragmatist of the late 20th century, though his career also spanned the roles of historian of ideas and public intellectual. He rejected the long-standing philosophical assumption that knowledge requires correct internal representations of external objects. Instead, Rorty argued that knowledge is an internal and linguistic affair, relating only to our own language. He claimed that language consists of vocabularies that are temporary and historically contingent, concluding that because vocabularies are human creations, so too are truths. This position leads to what he called "ironism": a state of mind in which people are fully aware that their knowledge depends on their particular time and place in history, and thus remain somewhat detached from their own beliefs. However, Rorty maintained that such awareness does not prevent a belief from regulating action or being worth defending, even when one recognizes it arises from nothing deeper than contingent historical circumstance. His most influential books include *Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature*, *Consequences of Pragmatism*, and *Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity*. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, Rorty held professorships at Princeton University, the University of Virginia, and Stanford University. His work combined pragmatism with insights from both analytic and continental philosophy, making him a central and controversial figure in late twentieth-century thought.
- field
- Philosophy, history of ideas
- nationality
- American
- known_for
- Rejecting representationalism; pragmatism; ironism; works including Philosophy a
Lore & Background
Richard Rorty was an American philosopher, historian of ideas, and public intellectual, born in New York City in 1931. He studied at the University of Chicago and Yale University, later holding professorships at Princeton, the University of Virginia, and Stanford. His most influential works include *Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature*, *Consequences of Pragmatism*, and *Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity*. Rorty rejected the traditional view that knowledge requires accurate internal representations of external objects. Instead, he argued that knowledge is an internal, linguistic affair, relating only to our language. He claimed that language consists of temporary, historical vocabularies, and because vocabularies are human-made, so are truths. This leads to what he called "ironism": a state where people recognize their knowledge depends on their time and place, remaining somewhat detached from their beliefs. However, he maintained that such beliefs can still guide action and be worth defending. Rorty’s neopragmatism, inspired by Quine and Sellars, systematically challenged foundationalist epistemology, asserting that the mind does not mirror reality and that knowledge is a matter of social linguistic practice.
Reader's Guide
Rorty’s significance stems from his role as the most influential late 20th century pragmatist, part of a renewed attention to pragmatism after Quine and Sellars used a revised pragmatism to critique logical positivism. His neopragmatism argued that knowledge is an internal, linguistic affair relating only to our own language, rejecting the traditional view that correct internal representations of external objects are necessary for knowledge. He claimed that language consists of temporary, historical vocabularies, concluding that since humans make vocabularies, they also make truths. This leads to what he called “ironism,” a state where people are aware their knowledge depends on their time and place and are somewhat detached from their own beliefs, yet he maintained that such beliefs can still regulate action and be worth dying for. Rorty combined pragmatism with the later Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language, holding that meaning is a social-linguistic product and sentences do not correspond to the world. His views led him to question philosophy’s basic assumptions and to be seen as a postmodern thinker. His academic career included positions at Princeton, Virginia, and Stanford, and he received a MacArthur Fellowship in its first year. His influential books include *Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature*, *Consequences of Pragmatism*, and *Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity*.
Did You Know?
- Richard Rorty was the most influential of the late 20th century pragmatists along with Hilary Putnam and Robert Brandom.
- Rorty's neopragmatism gained influence after Willard Van Orman Quine and Wilfrid Sellars used a revised pragmatism to criticize logical positivism in the 1960s.
- Rorty rejected the traditional view that knowledge requires correct internal representations of external objects.
- Contemporary pragmatism may be broadly divided into a strict analytic tradition and a 'neo-classical' pragmatism that adheres to the work of Peirce, James, and Dewey.
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