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4Richard RortyIn John Shand (ed.), Central Works of Philosophy, Vol. 5: The Twentieth Century: Quine and After, Acumen Publishing. pp. 126-145. 2006.
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3Common Understanding Without Uncommon CertaintyIn A companion to Rorty, Wiley. 2020.This chapter discusses Wittgenstein's influence on Richard Rorty's approach to philosophy throughout his career and his relationship to the analytic tradition. In doing so, it highlights Rorty's tendency, as a pragmatist, to focus on what he regards as the practical consequences of Wittgenstein's later works, especially Philosophical Investigations. And, it concludes with a critical assessment of the use that Rorty makes of a putative distinction between therapeutic and pragmatic Wittgensteinian…Read more
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3Inconvenient Conversational PartnersIn A companion to Rorty, Wiley. 2020.This chapter examines the ways in which Rorty interprets Freud in order to bolster some of his views about the nature of the self. In the process, it identifies certain tensions between (a) the kind of “holism of the mental,” which Rorty largely derives from the work of Donald Davidson, and (b) some of the claims Freud and other psychoanalysts make about the identity and mental life of human beings.
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13Imagination over Reason: Rorty’s Romance with ContingencyIn Martin Müller (ed.), Handbuch Richard Rorty, Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. pp. 799-812. 2023.Richard Rorty was inspired by Romanticism’s elevation of the imagination over the power of reason and appropriated its resulting conception of creativity to bolster his own notion of solidarity. In this chapter, however, we examine some puzzling aspects of his other appeals to the imaginative capacities of human beings. In the first place, we look at how those appeals square with his holism and his naturalism, and find interesting tensions there. Secondly, we highlight some questionable aspects …Read more
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The human contribution: James and modernity in pragmatism and The meaning of truthIn David Howell Evans (ed.), Understanding James, Understanding Modernism, Bloomsbury. 2017.
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13A companion to Rorty (edited book)Wiley. 2020.There has been an upsurge of interest in Rorty's contribution to philosophy in recent years, and his extensive influence is now widely acknowledged. Clear division of RR's work to give people a way in to the study of this wide-ranging philosopher. Five parts dealing with: (1) Rorty's early work (2) key texts (3) Rorty's unique pragmatist approach to key philosophical themes (4) reactions to, and appropriations of, Rorty's work, and (5) a selection of essays dealing with the practical application…Read more
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15Intelligibility without meaning: Nagel, and the cosmosHuman Affairs 29 (4): 395-403. 2019.Cosmic questions concern the relationship between the meaning we attribute to our lives and the cosmos within which such lives are situated. After explaining why such questions are liable to seem problematic, this article considers two responses to the envisaged difficulties. The first, a dismissive philosophical response, is itself dismissed. And, the second, which takes into account the socio-historical context of these difficulties, points towards Richard Rorty’s idea of radical self-reliance…Read more
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24FOCUS: Ethics in Competition Morality and Competitive AdvantageBusiness Ethics, the Environment and Responsibility 4 (4): 199-201. 1995.Successful business activity in the market is commonly likened to evolution and the survival of the fittest, in which there is little, if any, place for ethics. The author questions various assumptions underlying this view, and suggests that competition can bring out the best as well as the worst in human character. He is a member of the Department of Philosophy in the Faculty of Letters, Reading University, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 2AH. This paper was first presented at a Seminar on Teaching B…Read more
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55Truth and truthfulness: An essay in genealogyRatio 17 (1). 2004.Book reviewed: Bernard Williams. Truth and Truthfulness: An Essay in Genealogy.
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8RortyIn Christopher Belshaw & Gary Kemp (eds.), 12 Modern Philosophers, Wiley-blackwell. 2009.This chapter contains sections titled: Radical Roots Challenging the Tradition The Liberal Ironist Essays Against the Tradition Pragmatism References.
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32Methodological scepticism, metaphysics and meaningInternational Journal of Philosophical Studies 1 (2). 1993.No abstract
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197FOCUS: Ethics in competition morality and competitive advantageBusiness Ethics, the Environment and Responsibility 4 (4). 1995.Successful business activity in the market is commonly likened to evolution and the survival of the fittest, in which there is little, if any, place for ethics. The author questions various assumptions underlying this view, and suggests that competition can bring out the best as well as the worst in human character. He is a member of the Department of Philosophy in the Faculty of Letters, Reading University, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 2AH. This paper was first presented at a Seminar on Teaching B…Read more
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83Business ethics: critical perspectives on business and management (edited book)Routledge. 2001.This set reprints a wide range of key articles originally published in both philosophy and business journals and includes some of the essential work in the field. The cross-section of materials includes: * what is business ethics and how has it developed * are ethics compatible with the free market? * international business ethics * case studies.
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37Reading Rorty: critical responses to Philosophy and the mirror of nature (and beyond) (edited book)Blackwell. 1990.In 'Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature' Richard Rorty presented his provocation and influential vision of the post-philosophical culture, calling upon professional philosophers to accept that epistemology is dead, that the analytic method is a myth, and that philosophy and science are merely forms of literature.
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Postcolonial LiberalismIn Alan R. Malachowski (ed.), Richard Rorty, London ;sage. pp. 3--111. 2002.
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20Making a Difference in Cultural Politics: Rorty’s InterventionsContemporary Pragmatism 8 (1): 85-95. 2011.This article examines some general features of what Richard Rorty called "cultural politics." It attempts to explain why Rorty thought it both possible and desirable to give politics priority over ontology. He set aside traditional philosophical questions concerning what there is, while making those worth retaining subservient to cultural negotiation. Rorty's conception of cultural politics can perhaps avoid the complaint that by failing to deliver a substantial version of objectivity, he falls …Read more
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Case study methodology in business ethicsIn Business ethics: critical perspectives on business and management, Routledge. pp. 4--13. 2001.
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60The Cambridge Companion to Pragmatism (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2013.Pragmatism established a philosophical presence over a century ago through the work of Charles Peirce, William James and John Dewey, and has enjoyed an unprecedented revival in recent years owing to the pioneering efforts of Richard Rorty and Hilary Putnam. The essays in this volume explore the history and themes of classic pragmatism, discuss the revival of pragmatism and show how it engages with a range of areas of inquiry including politics, law, education, aesthetics, religion and feminism. …Read more
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32Rorty against the OntologistsThe European Legacy 19 (2): 187-196. 2014.This essay contrasts Richard Rorty’s the low-key, naturalistic handling of ontological concerns with the metaphysical approach that has recently become predominant within philosophy. It identifies some features of the latter approach that will surprise many outsiders who sympathise with the anti-metaphysical turn taken since Hume. The essay suggests that while Rorty does not provide a theoretical antidote to metaphysically-laden ontology, he does offer pragmatic advice that its advocates would d…Read more
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9The New PragmatismRoutledge. 2010.'The New Pragmatism' explains what it is about Pragmatism that makes it such an attractive prospect to so many thinkers, even in previously hostile traditions. This work sets out the guiding thoughts behind the Pragmatist approach to philosophy & shows how these thoughts have faired in the hands of those responsible for the revival.
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10Some ethical considerations on the recent revolution in financeIn Business ethics: critical perspectives on business and management, Routledge. pp. 2--132. 2001.
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Pragmatism minus truth/no limitsIn Alan R. Malachowski (ed.), Pragmatism, Sage Publications. pp. 3--246. 2004.
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29Microcognition: Philosophy, Cognitive Science, and Parallel Distributed ProcessingPhilosophical Books 32 (3): 172-173. 1991.
Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa
Areas of Specialization
Logic and Philosophy of Logic |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Language |
Meta-Ethics |