ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author focuses on 'Postmodernist Bourgeois Liberalism', Richard Rorty draws a distinction between 'Kantians' and 'Hegelians'. He argues that Kantians are definable in terms of their acceptance of the Enlightenment justification for liberalism, which turns on the notion of a metaphysical subject that is separate from, and transcends its socio-historical environment. In which case, the author argues, Rorty is trying to tell them how to be modern, by escaping our self-imposed immaturity which stemmed from appeals to metaphysics. Rorty's pragmatism is in accord with the sprit of this, as it accepts those modern advances of science which have challenged the worldly remit of religious dogma. Evaluation of politics concerns social justice in a twofold sense. Firstly, there are abstract arguments about a particular political philosophy as an adequate model of the 'good society'. Secondly, we can assess issues of social justice in terms of the actual practices within a political system.
