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Do we still need philosophical discourse as part of communication within our culture? Is philosophical endeavor still valid? This book offers the views of some of the most popular, distinguished contemporary philosophers who have placed their mark on philosophy. Durgen Habermas, Richard Rorty, Leszek Kolakowski, and Ernest Gellner bring their ideas into confrontation in a unique debate devoted to the present state of philosophy.
Habermas begins with a comprehensive account of contextualism. According to him, contextualism is a new form of historicism. What are the merits of an approach that takes into account both a historical and a cultural context? Is the pragmatism promoted by Richard Rorty an acceptable criticism of our platonic heritage? If so, does this mean the end of rationality as a regulative ideal of the human universe? Rorty's answer is Yes. This world-renowned American thinker recommends putting a full stop at the end of a narrative which was useful in pursuit of our ancestors' purposes but is no longer useful for ours. Leszek Ko^D/lakowski attempts to undermine the alleged pragmatic merits of pragmatism from the position of an analytic philosopher who continues to value classical elements of philosophical tradition. Ernest Gellner also turns against Rorty's pragmatism, which he denounces as a product of the Enlightenment roots of American culture and its centuries of political and economic stability. The future of Western culture may depend on the answers to the questions asked by these authors.
List of contents
Preface
Coping with ContingenciesJürgen Habermas: Coping with Contingencies, The Return of Historicism
Richard Rorty: Emancipating Our Culture
The Challenge of RelativismRichard Rorty: Relativism: Finding and Making
Richard Rorty: On Moral Obligation, Truth, and Common Sense
Leszek Ko/lakowski: A Remark on Rorty
Richard Rorty: Response to Ko/lakowski
Philosophy and the Dilemmas of the Contemporary WorldLeszek Ko/lakowski: A Remark on Our Relative Relativism
Ernest Gellner: Enlightenment--Yes or No?
Richard Rorty: The Notion of Rationality
Appendix I: Comments on the Habermas/Rorty Debate
Appendix II: Comments on Richard Rorty, "Relativism: Finding and Making"
Appendix III: Comments on Philosophy and the Dilemmas of the Contemporary World
Bibliography
Index
About the Authors
About the author
JÓZEF NIZNIK is Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences. His research has been focused on the borderline between philosophy and sociology, especially such areas as the sociology of knowledge and the philosophy of the social sciences. He is author of four books in Polish.
JOHN T. SANDERS is Professor of Philosophy at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is author of
The Ethical Argument Against Government,
Contra Leviathan: On the Legitimacy and Propriety of the State, and coeditor of
For and Against the State: New Philosophical Readings.
Summary
Ernest Gellner also turns against Rorty's pragmatism, which he denounces as a product of the Enlightenment roots of American culture and its centuries of political and economic stability.
