ABSTRACT
Richard Rorty’s third volume of philosophical papers has three sections. Part one consists of disquisitions on, or rather against, the idea of objective truth; part two discusses moral progress; and part three, which has the not quite accurate title ‘The Role of Philosophy in Human Progress,’ comprises essays about the history of philosophy. Rorty is at his best when writing about the history of philosophy. Rorty relates that he started life as ‘a thrusting young analytic philosopher’ but later converted to a different way of thinking. Rorty’s neo-pragmatism precludes the possibility of further change because it armours him very thoroughly against reasoned criticism. One way to understand Rorty’s philosophy is to consider the methods he uses in dealing with critics. Rorty’s critics point out that in cutting the ground from under their feet he cuts it from under his own. Rorty explicitly or implicitly rejects the distinctions upon which all reasoning relies.
