Tuesdays at Zenda. Non-fiction literature Tuesdays. On this occasion, Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity, one of the essential works by American philosopher Richard Rorty (New York, 1931 – Palo Alto, 2007), originally published in 1989 and now revived for its catalog in a new edition by the publisher Paidós. In its pages, Rorty explores the consequences of a public and institutional acceptance of the philosophical axiom that every society is formed as a historical contingency, a principle commonly used in the history of philosophy as a mechanism of individual and private emancipation from certain principles of social transcendence. As is typical of Rorty, literature is a field from which he draws and with which he allies in his purpose.
La propia editorial apunta, a propósito del libro: “El filósofo Richard Rorty sostiene que pensadores como Nietzsche, Freud o Wittgenstein han consentido que las sociedades se consideren a sí mismas como contingencias históricas antes que como expresiones de una naturaleza ahistórica subyacente o como realizaciones de metas suprahistóricas.
This ironic perspective on the human condition is extremely valuable on a private level, though it cannot preempt the social or political aims of liberalism. What can achieve it, according to the author, is not philosophy, but literature, which is capable of promoting a genuine sense of human solidarity, especially with novelists like Orwell and Nabokov.
A truly liberal culture, with a clear awareness of its historical contingency, would fuse private and individual freedom of the ironic philosophical perspective with the public project of human solidarity engendered by the intelligence and sensitivity of great writers.
From philosophy to literary criticism, passing through social theory, the broad frame of reference of this book encloses equally complex conclusions and reveals Richard Rorty as a particularly subtle theorist, whose writing will attract both academic and non-academic readers“.
—————————————
Author: Richard Rorty. Title: Contingency, Irony and Solidarity. Publisher: Paidós. Sales: Todos tus libros.