Richard Rorty: Contingency, Irony and Solidarity / chapter 7

Richard Rorty: Contingency, Irony and Solidarity
Chapter 7 - The Barber of Kasbeam: Nabokov on Cruelty
Here Rorty argues that solidarity isn't discovered by stripping away differences to find a shared human essence, but is created through imaginative identification with the suffering of others. Our sense of "us" can be progressively expanded — not by philosophy revealing our common humanity, but through our careful reading of literature, and through journalism and storytelling which can make the pain of strangers vivid and real to us.

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.