Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa
Areas of Specialization
Logic and Philosophy of Logic
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  • 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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    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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    Imagination over Reason: Rorty’s Romance with Contingency
    In 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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    A 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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    Intelligibility without meaning: Nagel, and the cosmos
    Human 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
  •  20
    FOCUS: Ethics in Competition Morality and Competitive Advantage
    Business 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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    Carney's proposal
    Mind 91 (362): 281-284. 1982.
  • Pragmatism minus truth/no limits
    In Alan R. Malachowski (ed.), Pragmatism, Sage Publications. pp. 3--246. 2004.
  • Dialectical Mathematicalism: Wittgenstein on Gödel
    Diálogos. Revista de Filosofía de la Universidad de Puerto Rico 24 (54): 7. 1989.
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    The New Pragmatism
    Routledge. 2006.
    '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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    Richard Rorty (edited book)
    Routledge. 2002.
    Richard Rorty is notorious for contending that the traditional, foundation-building and truth-seeking ambitions of systematic philosophy should be set aside in favour of a more pragmatic, conversational, hermeneutically guided project. This challenge has not only struck at the heart of philosophy but has ricocheted across other disciplines, both contesting their received self-images and opening up new avenues of inquiry in the process. Alan Malachowski provides an authoritative overview of Rorty…Read more
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    Pragmatism (edited book)
    Sage Publications. 2004.
    The dramatic resurgence of American Pragmatism was one of the most important intellectual developments in the Twentieth Century. As the influence of this revitalised movement continues to spread across a variety of disciplines ranging from law to literary theory, the time is ripe for a considered reassessment of both its origins in the works of Charles Peirce, William James and John Dewey and its later revival in the hands of thinkers such as Richard Rorty and Hilary Putnam. This three-volume co…Read more
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    Corporate Crises
    Philosophy Now 39 7-9. 2002.
  • Pragmatism, Philosophy, and Ways of Living
    In Alan R. Malachowski (ed.), Pragmatism, Sage Publications. pp. 3--328. 2004.
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    Review Symposium on Richard Rorty: Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (review)
    with Terence Ball, William Connolly, and Peter Dews
    History of the Human Sciences 3 (1): 101-122. 1990.
  • Richard Rorty
    Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia 59 (3): 914-915. 2003.
  • Preface
    In Alan R. Malachowski (ed.), Pragmatism, Sage Publications. pp. 1. 2004.
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    Knowledge and Its Limits
    International Philosophical Quarterly 43 (1): 131-132. 2003.
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    Corporate Crises Revisited
    Philosophy Now 41 46-47. 2003.