Technology and Rorty’s Cultural Politics

Tartaglia, James

Abstract

In Sect. 1, I point out the tension in Rorty’s commitment to both pragmatism and materialism. In Sect. 2, I explain how Rorty sought to justify this combination, and argue that his account is not only implausible but incomplete. In Sect. 3, I explain what I think is the underlying reason for Rorty’s commitment to materialism, namely to promote the social utility of technology for eliminating extreme poverty. After showing how this stance fits into a standard discourse of scientific rationalism, to which a strong opposing case can be made, I conclude, in Sect. 4, that Rorty’s notion of philosophy as cultural politics could be a very useful approach to new technological developments, capable of revitalizing philosophy’s public voice; but only if detached from Rorty’s anti-philosophical agenda.

Citation

Tartaglia, J. (2023). Technology and Rorty’s Cultural Politics. In Handbuch Richard Rorty (831–845). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-16253-5_39

• Online Publication Date: Jun 1, 2023
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 15, 2024
• Publisher: Springer
• Pages: 831–845
• Book Title: Handbuch Richard Rorty
• ISBN: 978-3-658-16252-8
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-16253-5_39
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-16253-5_39
• Related Public URLs: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-16253-5?page=3#toc