[lit-ideas] Re: SOS: Autonomical risk -- Rorty

  • From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 20 May 2006 16:31:15 -0500

PE: 

Rorty's
private/public distinction isn't one of his strongest nor most
consistent arguments.

I agree, but consistency isn't as sacrosanct a virtue for me as it is with you professional philosopher types. You guys are trying to make sense of the world -- a hopeless task, I think -- I'm merely trying to find some guide lines. Guys who do the heavy lifting can't even get their arms around their sweetie, so bulky with muscle/thought/morals are they. I contend that inconsistency is universal and is one of those "can I live with this ambiguity?" things we all have to deal with every day of our lives, and the answers, of course, will vary widely within any population. But the conflict between community and autonomy (solidarity and ironic liberalism) gnaws at me whenever I want to write off all political concerns and pursue exclusively my own aesthetic and relationship concerns. I find Rorty's arguments touching very close to my own "feelings"(?), I agree he doesn't give a hard, logical argument for his position, but I doubt that such is possible. We're always just making it up as we go along. So there.

Mike Geary
looking forward to reading my 10 paragraphs



----- Original Message ----- From: "Phil Enns" <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, May 20, 2006 3:26 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: SOS: Autonomical risk -- Rorty


Mike Geary quotes Richard Rorty:

"We should stop trying to combine self-creation and politics, especially
if we are liberals."

But Rorty writes elsewhere:

"For it is part of the tradition of our community that the human
stranger from whom all dignity has been stripped is to be taken in, to
be reclothed with dignity.  This Jewish and Christian element in our
tradition is gratefully invoked by freeloading atheists like myself ..."

and thereby, twice over, combines self-creation and politics.  Rorty's
private/public distinction isn't one of his strongest nor most
consistent arguments.  Rorty is good for those 'hmmm, that is
interesting' moments but I wouldn't depend on him for any heavy lifting.
This is particularly true when the subject is the self.


Sincerely,

Phil Enns
Toronto, ON

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