Pining Away in the Midst of Plenty: The Irony of Rorty's Either/Or Philosophy

Hedgehog Review (Summer 2016) 18:2, pp.76-80

University of Miami Legal Studies Research Paper No. 16-32

4 Pages Posted: 15 Jul 2016

See all articles by Susan Haack

Susan Haack

University of Miami - School of Law; University of Miami - Department of Philosophy

Date Written: 2016

Abstract

In this response to Rorty’s lecture, “Universalist Grandeur and Analytic Philosophy,” Haack argues first that we are not obliged to choose, as Rorty assumes, either clarity or relevance, either truth-seeking or aspiration, meliorism, either science or poetry, either nature or culture, but can and should seek a philosophy that has room for all of these; and then that, before the rivalry of analytic vs. continental philosophy took hold, the philosophers of the classical pragmatist tradition had shown the way to a rich philosophy of Both/And. Quoting Peirce on how an unclear idea in a person’s head acts like an obstruction in an artery, “condemning its victim to pine away…in the midst of intellectual plenty,” Haack concludes that Rorty has succumbed to just this sad fate.

Keywords: C. S. Peirce, Richard Rorty, pragmatism, philosophy

Suggested Citation

Haack, Susan, Pining Away in the Midst of Plenty: The Irony of Rorty's Either/Or Philosophy (2016). Hedgehog Review (Summer 2016) 18:2, pp.76-80, University of Miami Legal Studies Research Paper No. 16-32, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2809355

Susan Haack (Contact Author)

University of Miami - School of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 248087
Coral Gables, FL 33146
United States
305-284-3541 (Phone)
305-284-6506 (Fax)

University of Miami - Department of Philosophy ( email )

P.O. Box 248054
Coral Gables, FL 33124-4670
United States

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