Reconstructing Pragmatism: Richard Rorty and the Classical Pragmatists

The figure of Richard Rorty stands in complex relation to the tradition of American pragmatism. On the one hand, his intellectual creativity, lively prose, and bridge-building fueled the contemporary resurgence of pragmatism. On the other, his polemical claims and selective interpretations function as a negative, fixed pole against which thinkers of all stripes define themselves. Virtually all pragmatists on the contemporary scene, whether classical or "new," Deweyan, Jamesian, or Peircean, use Rorty as a foil to justify their positions. The resulting internecine quarrels and divisions threaten to fragment and thwart the tradition's creative potential. More caricatured than understood, the specter of Rorty continues to block the road of inquiry and future development of pragmatism. Reconstructing Pragmatism moves beyond the Rortyan impasse by providing what has been missing for decades: a constructive, non-polemical account of Rorty's relation to classical pragmatism. The first book-length treatment of Rorty's intellectual debt to the early pragmatists, the volume establishes his selective appropriations not as misunderstandings or distortions but a sustained, intentional effort to reconstruct their thinking. Featuring chapters devoted to five key pragmatist thinkers--Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, John Dewey, Josiah Royce, and Jane Addams--the book draws on archival sources and the full scope of Rorty's writings to challenge prevailing misconceptions and caricatures. By elaborating Rorty's still largely untapped reconstructive resources, the book reveals limitations in predominant views of the classical pragmatists in current debates and opens up new modes of understanding pragmatism and why it matters today.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Learning from Rorty's Reconstructed Pragmatism Chapter 1: Rorty and Peirce: Pragmatism, Realism, and the Practice of Inquiry Chapter 2: Rorty and James: The Ethics and Epistemology of Belief Chapter 3: Rorty and Dewey: Pragmatist Philosophy as Cultural Criticism Chapter 4: Rorty and Royce: The Cultural Politics of Community, Loyalty, and Difference Chapter 5: Rorty and Addams: Pragmatist Social Ethics and Undemocratic Relations Conclusion: Post-Rortyan Pragmatism

About the Author :
Chris Voparil is on the Graduate Faculty of Union Institute & University, where he teaches philosophy and political theory. He is author of Richard Rorty: Politics and Vision (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006) and co-editor of Pragmatism and Justice (Oxford University Press, 2017) and several collections of Rorty's work, including What Can We Hope For? Essays on Politics (Princeton University Press, 2022), On Philosophers and Philosophy: Unpublished Papers, 1960-2000 (Cambridge University Press, 2020), and The Rorty Reader (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), in addition to articles on pragmatism.

Review :
Voparil has a positively intimidating mastery of Rorty's work and of the voluminous secondary literature on it, and I dissent from his fascinating reconstruction of Rorty with great trepidation. I am far more certain, however, that Rorty scholars and students of the pragmatist tradition alike will learn much from Voparil's Reconstructing Pragmatism Readers will learn about Rorty's work and about pragmatism and its potential to address the challenges of democratic society. Voparil's focus on pragmatism's commitment to socially just community sidelines an important aspect of Rorty's thought: his provocative endorsement of ironic, Nietzschean self--creation enabled by liberal freedom. Nevertheless, Voparil's book is a tour de force that accomplishes its goal of demonstrating the importance of Rorty and pragmatism. Richard Rorty renewed themes in James and Dewey, developing them with great sensitivity. This sympathetic study awards him his rightful place as one of the architects of contemporary pragmatism. This is a smart, well-written book that offers a wealth of fresh insights about Rorty's pragmatism and its relationship to classical pragmatists. Voparil is even-handed and inspiring as he reconstructs Rorty's relationship not only to Dewey, but also to Peirce, James, Addams, and Royce. Refusing both the demonization and the glorification of Rorty's work, Reconstructing Pragmatism demonstrates how the future of contemporary pragmatism can benefit from rather than merely avoid or criticize Rorty's philosophy. A philosopher can hardly ask for anything more than a careful and sympathetic reader...Rorty at last has a careful and sympathetic reader in Voparil,...Those partial to the classical pragmatists and who regard Rorty as an enfant terrible will be well advised to read Voparil's book.