Alterman and Rorty (was "Re: Some of what Alterman said)

[John St. Clair]

Doug wrote:
> Isn't this just one more attempt (by Rorty on the high end and Alterman on
> the low) to assert some pragmatic, pure native strain Americanism, against
> all that decadent and foreign stuff going on in the humanities
> departments?
> In the 50s it was Marxists; in the 90s it's Derrideans and queers.

Doug, I know you're not a philosopher, but have you *read* Rorty? I mean, if
you're making the claim that he's *against* Derrida, I couldn't agree with
you. Take a look at, for example:

Truth and Progress: Philosophical Papers Vol. III, "Habermas, Derrida, and
the Functions of Philosophy"
Ibid., "Derrida and the Philosophical Tradition"
Essays on Heidegger and Others: Phil. Papers Vol. II, "Is Derrida a
Transcendental Philosopher"
Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity, Chapter 6 "From ironist theory to
private allusions: Derrida"

I don't think you'll find very many readers of Derrida better than Rorty.
You may not agree with his overall interpretation, or his version of
pragmatism (i'm sure you wouldn't). In fact, Rorty got some of his
reputation as a traitor to modern anglo-american analytic philosophy from a
address he gave to the APA in the early 80s about the relevance of
continental philosophy. I think Rorty's been a perceptive and willing
recipient of Continental philosophy (he was planning to write a book on
Heidegger in the late 70s), but his trouble with it, I think, can be
summarized best from the title of another essay in his Philosophical Papers:

"The priority of democracy to philosophy"

John

John St. Clair
University of South Florida
Department of Philosophy
Cooper 107
Tampa, FL 33620

Office: CPR 267
Phone: 813-974-5896
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http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~jstclair/