Values, Valuations, and Axiological Norms in Richard Rorty's Neopragmatism: Studies, Polemics, Interpretations

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Richard Rorty is perhaps the most famous American philosopher internationally, and his later, neopragmatist philosophy is decidedly one of his most commented upon. Values, Valuations, and Axiological Norms in Richard Rorty's Neopragmatism proposes different themes in order to delve into the enormous potential that Rorty's later philosophical thought possesses, using the perspective of the axiological and normative dimensions. With reference to philosophers such as Kant, Dewey, Santayana, and Koakowski, Krzysztof Piotr Skowroski argues that a democratic society is the basic axiological framework and that Rortys normative focus is the melioration of democratic society. The novelty of this philosophy is that it pays special attention to discourses, narratives, and story-telling as containing within themselves axiological and normative aspects. This book presents these discourses as a way of constructing and reconstructing social reality, rather than as a means of describing reality from a detached perspective. According to this framework, human activity, well-being, and solidarity with other people should be evoked by us much more than any reference to God, the Truth, or absolute Values. This book is written for anyone with interests in American philosophy, intellectual history, or political philosophy.

Reviews

Values, Valuations, and Axiological Norms is an excellent work. Skowronskis arguments, analyses, and insights are new and important. These arguments are not only interesting, but persuasive, and Skowronski offers, besides the well-known approaches, new insights for the readers. This is a major contribution to the overall picture of Richard Rorty, especially in the sense that the author shows main features of Rortys neopragmatismhis basic values, the principles of contingency and relativity, re-description, the public-private split, liberal utopia, etc.from Rortys liberal democratic angle. -- Alexander Kremer, University of Szeged
Skowronski's volume adds its own distinctive voice to the on-going and growing discussion of Rorty's legacy. Reflecting on Rorty's views on various inter-related issues, such as values, normativity, humanism, democracy, liberalism, literature, and cultural politics, Skowronski does not merely seek to interpret Rorty's position but to philosophizeoften criticallywith him about these topics of vital human importance in a politically relevant manner. -- Sami Pihlstrm, University of Helsinki
In the era of global power of technoscience and political corruption, Skowronski re-reads Rorty in a novel way, focusing on values and norms. He shows how Rortyan pragmatism can serve not only cultural politics but also political humanism.This is a conversation with Rorty rather than an interpretation because the author has his own ideas to present on the Rortyan themes. -- Emil Viovsk, Comenius University & Slovak Academy of Sciences
A thoughtful and insightful study of Rorty's philosophy. Skowronski succeeds at presenting a rich critical understanding of this complex thinker. -- John Lachs, Vanderbilt University

Author Bio

Krzysztof Piotr Skowroski is associate professor at the Institute of Philosophy, Opole University.