Pragmatist Transcendence in Rorty’s Metaphilosophy

Abstract

This article argues that a pragmatist ambition to transcendence undergirds Richard Rorty’s metaphilosophy. That transcendence might play a positive role in Rorty’s work might seem implausible given his well-known rejection of the idea that human practices are accountable to some external, Archimedean standpoint, and his endorsement of the historicist view that standards of rationality are products of time and chance. It is true that Rorty’s contributions to epistemology, philosophy of mind and metaphysics have this anti-transcendentalist character. But in his metaphilosophy, Rorty shows great respect for pre-philosophical impulses aimed at transcendence of some kind, in particular the romantic (and indeed religious) experience of awe at something greater than oneself, and the utopian striving for a radically better world. These impulses do not disappear in Rorty’s metaphilosophy but are reshaped in a pragmatist iteration of transcendence which, we argue, can be characterised as horizontal (rather than vertical) and weak (rather strong). We use this characterization to distinguish Rorty’s metaphilosophy from other accounts that share a postmetaphysical ambition to transcendence.

A Culture of Egotism: Rorty and Higher Education

“…As if realizing this, Rorty would later drop this way of thinking about the central ideals of the democratic life-form, the way that matched them to the private-public distinction (2010,(506)(507). Rorty, in our reading of his work, replaces the distinction with a construal of self-creation and solidarity as two irreducible modes of selfenlargement (Smith & Llanera, 2019;Llanera 2020).…”

“…Both take pride in their perceived superiority over other groups, and both are highly resistant to persuasion out of their collective self-view. Insofar as they do that, both show signs of egotism (Rorty 1982a(Rorty , 2003(Rorty /2010Smith and Llanera 2019). A rigid sense of exclusivity and privileged status are the defining features of egotist communities.…”