Richard Rorty: 1931 – 2007

Rorty

The prince of pragmatism and a lion of Stanford, Richard Rorty, died last week in Palo Alto at age 75. Rorty was most famously a philosophical pragmatist, believing that the philosopher’s role in life is to answer our pressing everyday questions, not to get lost in abstract theories. According to his obituary, in his later years he “fiercely criticized the Bush administration, the religious right, Congressional Democrats and anti-American intellectuals.” And despite the pessimism caused by any extended contemplation of these groups, he had hope for his country to the end.

You can listen to one of Rorty’s last public speaking engagements, the annual Dewey lecture at the University of Chicago, here.


by | Permalink | Comments (3) |

Comments (3)
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
  1. American Philosophy on Film: Pragmatism, Richard Rorty and More | Open Culture says . . . | April 15, 2011 / 1:14 pm

    [...] The film — which is really a series of 8 shorts – features interviews with Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam, Joseph Margolis, Crispin Sartwell, Richard Bernstein, and many other prominent [...]

  2. 10 Famous Philosophers in Words and Images | Open Culture says . . . | June 6, 2011 / 12:37 pm

    [...] called “Gallery of Minds,” featuring images of 10 world-famous philosophers, including Richard Rorty, David Chalmers, and renowned philosopher and art critic Arthur Danto, who also wrote a [...]

  3. prof.Salah Ismail says . . . | June 28, 2011 / 12:01 pm

    I work on american philosophy, thanks

Add a comment

  • Subscribe

    Get updates as soon as they go live, via RSS feed, email and now Twitter!

    Follow on Twitter

    Get the latest from our Twitter Stream.

    Why can't we be friends?

    Suggest a Link

    Got a link we should post? Send it our way!

  • About Us

    Open Culture editor Dan Colman scours the web for the best educational media. He finds the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & movies you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.

  • Advertise on Open Culture

    Open Culture receives about 1.7 million visits per month and has over 150,000 subscribers. Get your message in front of our smart, savvy audience today.

Quantcast