Neopragmatism and political philosophy in Richard Rorty’s late work

Abstract

This paper aims to present the relationship between the neopragmatism and political philosophy in Richard Rorty’s late work, specifying the sense that he gives to the former and describing the latter in its two parts: a pragmatic critique of the relationship between philosophy and Politics, on the one hand, and the proposal of a utopian democratic ideal with Deweyan and utilitarian inspiration, on the other. Next, it is intended to partially analyze and endorse some criticisms of the first part, showing that Rorty’s antitheoretical controversy against certain kind of contemporary Political Philosophy brings harm to his own pragmatist objectives. Finally, it will be shown that the relevance of this criticism does not invalidate the political usefulness of Rorty’s utopian ideal, albeit it is much more inspired by Dewey’s politically visionary ideas than by pragmatist philosophy as such.