First, Bhaskara expresses agreement (158) with Rorty's seemingly stunning insight into how the antiquated vocabulary of Newtonian and Humean mechanism is now seriously interfering with our efforts to investigate and change social being. This is a lot to chew over.
Second, Bhaskar locates Rorty in the tradition of romantic self-creation, which arguably underpins identity politics (e.g., it seems to be idea embodied by Jasmine in the novel of that name by the most successful Indo-American novelist to date Bharati Mukherjee).
"What is Rorty's highest value, his summum bonum? It is romantic self creation, which, becomes...Nietzschean self overcoming. Man is the describing, redescribing being. Among the entitties man can redsecribe in a new, and abnormal, way, is himself. By making a new, incommensurable description of herself 'stick', she makes it true; and thus 'gives birth to' (to use Harold Bloom's term) or 'creates' herself--which is to say 'overcomes' her previous or past self. Moreover, only be descripbing herself in a totally novel way can she capture or express her idiosyncrasy, uniqueness,--or rather achieve it, achieve her individuation--for anything else would reduce here to a (more or les complex set ) of forumla(e), a token of a type (or set of types). Such radical self-redescription (which could be nicknamed 'me-' or 'we-' description) is the highest form of description. For not only does the redescription redescribe the redescriber; but in the process of redescription--of winning, of making it stick, of achieving recognition for it--it makes the (re)description true; so achieving the identity of subject and object, by *creating* it. This, IF it were possible, would be historic goal of philosophyachieved in a romantic or Nietzschean mode. Man, then, by redescribing himself, a redescribing subject, in a totally new way and winning acceptance for it, creates a new identity or subjectivity for herself...Self creation by self overcoming is the reconciliation of man as empriical self and as moral agent, as described object and describing subject; the realization of the reconciliation between nature and spirit which Kant vainly tried to achieve..." (p.171)
To put Rorty in Schumpeterian terms: the relevant problem is not the administration of existing identities but their auto-creation and -destruction. (Indeed I think Mukherjee's *Jasmine* embodies not only this Romantic hero but also Schumpeter's gale of creative destruction.)
Bhaskar then goes on to explore the possibility of this Nietzschean/Romantic ideal. I was fully persuaded by his brilliant critique. Thanks for the cite, Yoshie.
Best, rakesh