Richard Rorty: Contingency, Irony and Solidarity / chapter 3

Richard Rorty: Contingency, Irony and Solidarity
Chapter 3 - The Contingency of a Liberal Community
OK so if there is no Truth out there in the world, as Rorty has claimed in chapter 1 - then does that make him a relativist? Or a pragmatist? And how can he ground his belief in a liberal political philosophy, if not in the truth or moral goodness of liberalism, or in claims about a universal human nature which (per chapter 2) he doesn't think exists either? Let's find out!

We'll come back for another session on this chapter next week - recommended to read the whole chapter (pp44-69) in advance of this session, then recap as needed for the following week.

Who are we?
We're a reading group that welcomes all - young, old, completely new to philosophy or well versed, from keen students to those who've never darkened the door of a lecture room. We read both long & short texts, but you don't need to join at the very start of our longer reads - you can come along at any stage of the journey. Our conversations are lively, wide-ranging & respectful.

We usually head to the pub to continue the discussion after our meetings.