Richard Rorty: 1931-2007, RIP.

[BlooInBloo]

For those who aren't familiar with him, Rorty created arguably the most important work of philosophy of the 20th century: Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature.

I'll leave it to other people like Brandom, McDowell, and others to fully eulogize him; suffice it to say that the world has lost one of the truly great intellects it has ever produced.


EDIT: Forgot to include a link to an announcement of his death: http://www.telospress.com/main/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=188

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1. Greatest American Philosopher of latter half of 20th cent....

Coincidentally, a friend and I were talking about him at dinner last night...

"Philosophy and Social Hope" is a great read. And for the politically-inclined, "Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth Century America"--in which he defends the Old Left (Labor, Socialism) against the New Left (Foucault, et al).

[BlooInBloo]

2. And arguably the whole - American or not. But only arguably.

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3. true, one could make that case....

and he is certainly the one with whom I most agree.

On the other hand, one could say that his brilliance is in lucid exposition and compelling formulation rather than in original thinking. Rorty himself would name Dewey, among Americans, and probably Heidegger overall.

[BlooInBloo]

4. lol! Not. He would name Wittgenstein.

EDIT: And he might very well be right.

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6. I stand by the Heidegger claim...Rorty's book...

"Essays on Heidegger and Others" makes that pretty clear

[rudeboy666]

5. well

I wouldn't go as far as saying that 'Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature' was arguably the most important work of the previous century (although I agree that it was/is a VERY important work!).

However, I do agree that he was arguably one of the most important philosophers (or thinker) of the 20th Century.

[BlooInBloo]

7. (shrug) Whatever keeps the thread kicked for a little while. :)