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Richard Rorty:
Edification and Naturalism
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Notions you need to know
Edification: moral, intellectual or
spiritual improvement by
enlightenment or uplifting actionsArt edifies the space it is placed in
Comprehension edifies the world around
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Naturalism: in the universe, laws ofnature exist and function exclusively;the belief that nature governs thestructure and behavior of the universe;
nothing exists beyond nature, but if itdoes, it does not affect the naturalworld.
Ghosts, spirits, supernatural entities donot exist
There is no purpose in nature
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Epistemology: the theory of knowledge,with concern towards methods, validity
and purpose; questions what knowledge isand how it can be obtained; how much ofan object or entity can truly be known
and how much remains unknownHow knowledge relates to truth, belief and
justification (of actions, thoughts,
propositions, etc.)There is a difference between knowing
that, knowing how and acquaintance-knowledge
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Hermeneutics:a branch of knowledge thatdeals with interpretation of things, entities and
notions, concerns mostly text interpretation
Metaphysics: concerned with thefundamental nature of reality and existence, it
studies what is outside of objective experience,structure and constitution of reality
Pour-soi: abstract, a being that has feelings,
being for itself En-soi: material, a being with no feelings,
being in itself
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Edification and naturalism
Rortys essay deals with the methodology ofresolving philosophical issues such as the
distinction between spirit and nature,
transcendental hermeneutics and the search for
objective knowledge
He evokes works of many philosophers in his
rhetoric and works his way towards a conclusion
of his own, about how we objectivize ourselves
by reflection, changing our opinions, vocabulary
and behavior through time
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Hermeneutics and phenomenology both suggestways in which we might create a transcendentalstandpoint, refusing the notion that change inbehavior results from change in self-descriptionwhich in turn brings forth the objectivization ofhuman beings
Rorty believes that we should not expectphilosophy to answer questions left unansweredby science
Transcendental hermeneutics promises to seefreedom as nature and advocates normaldiscourse as an element of edification
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Habermas: transcendental
philosophy can analyze what
functions knowledge has inpractice
If cognitive interests are analyzed
through inquiry in natural and
cognitive sciences, they are
transcendental in nature
If analyzed in the contexts of
anthropology, they are empiricalin nature
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Rorty feels it unnecessary to find a general way
to analyze these roles, advocating the use of
cultural anthropology as enough
Habermas: transcendental corroboration
criticizez an overly self-confident self-
understanding of itself because it comes upwith subjective conditions that make a theory
possible and limited at the same time
Overconfidence: thinking that there istruthfulness to reality in philosophical realism
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Analysis of
categorical
structure of
objects
Distinction:people as
empirical selves
and moral agents
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Normal scientific discourse can be seen in two
ways:
1. Successful search for objective truth2. One discourse among other in which we engage
Error in systematic philosophy: answering theabove questions with new discourse, which is
the philosophers bad faith, substitutingpseudo-
cognitionfor moral choice
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Kant made possible to see scientific truth as
something unable to supply a point, a justification
and to claim that our moral decisions are based onknowledge of the nature of the world by
destroying the traditional conception of reason
He called this the discovery of inevitable subjectiveconditions, which would be revealed by reflection upon
scientific inquiry.
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Rorty tries to recast distinctions (nature & spirit,
objectivizing science & reflection, epistemology
& hermeneutics) in terms of historical andtemporary distinctions betweenfamiliar&
unfamiliarand normal& abnormal.
Allowing us to see them as a distinction betweeninquiryand the questioning out of which inquiries may
or may not emerge
Combining advantages of normality withabnormality
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Epistemology is connected to moral
commitment (reality, truth, objectivity, reason)
Behaviorism within epistemology is to look atnormal discourse in a bifocal way:
As patterns adopted for historical reasons
As achievement of objective truthor the bestexplanation we have so far
Practices of justification may take the form ofsubjective conditions, which are facts about which society
or certain groups think as proof or assertion, and are
studied byanthropology
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Are these subjective conditions beliefs?
They combine common practical imperatives
with standard current theory
These subjective conditions may change
through time, objectivizing their past selvesthrough reflection and making new
sentences true to their present lives (is this
the process through which taboos aboutcertain people change?)
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Rortys conclusions
Transcendentalist explanations are unnecessary, justacceptance of abnormaldiscourse
Everything can be predicted by our minds andthought processes, because we depend on decisions,
intentions and choices We cannot go from apour-soistate to an en-soistate,
so the fear of this happening is unjustified
Abnormal discourse, the catalyst of the process,may face threats from the stigmas abnormal subjectmatters or differently treated subject matters hold insociety, leisured and free conversation being limited
on some scale