Ep. 349: Rorty's Pluralistic Pragmatism (Part One)
The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
Mark Linsenmayer
4.6 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 2 September 2024
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On Richard Rorty's Pragmatism As Anti-Authoritarianism (1997), ch. 1-2 about religion. Should democracy be defended on absolutist grounds, e.g. by reference to God-given or natural rights, the nature of Man, or the dictates of Reason?
Rorty says no! Democracy, ethics, and even truth itself are a matter for societies to decide for themselves. Monotheistic religion provides a negative model for ceding authority on these matters no something non-human.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the partially examined life, a podcast by some guys who at one point said on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. |
| 0:15.3 | Our question for episode 349 is something like, what's the most pragmatic attitude toward |
| 0:21.2 | religion? |
| 0:22.2 | We read the first two lectures from Richard Rorty's |
| 0:24.7 | Pragmentism as Anti-authoritarianism written around 1997 but not published |
| 0:30.0 | until 2021. The essays are called Pragnetism and Religion and Pragnetism as Romantic |
| 0:35.9 | Polytheism. For more information about the text and the podcast, please see partial examine |
| 0:40.3 | life.com. This is Mark Linsonenmeyer substituting fraternity for authority in Madison, Wisconsin. |
| 0:46.4 | This is Seth Paskin obliged to empathy but not rationality in Austin, Texas. |
| 0:52.6 | This is Westall, and D. Eternalizing my hopes |
| 0:55.8 | in Cambridge, Massachusetts. |
| 0:57.7 | This is Dylan Casey exhausted by my obligation |
| 1:00.2 | to take account of other people's doubts and objections in my own beliefs in Madison, Wisconsin. |
| 1:06.0 | All right, Dylan, you suggested this one. |
| 1:08.0 | I think in light of our William James Varieties of a religious experience, |
| 1:12.0 | start us off. What attracted you had already read that? varieties of a religious experience, |
| 1:12.6 | start us off. |
| 1:13.4 | What attracted, you had already read it |
| 1:14.9 | when you suggested it, right? |
| 1:16.8 | Yeah, so I picked up the book. |
| 1:18.5 | I've long been a Rorty fan and studied him all the way back in undergrad and I met him once and you know we've done a few episodes on him and I was really |
| 1:31.0 | attracted just by the title. |
... |
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