Reconsidering Richard Rorty’s Private-Public Distinction

Humanities

关键词: Rorty;    Richard;    pragmatism and neo-pragmatism;    public-private distinction;    liberalism;   

DOI  :  10.3390/h2020193

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

This article provides a new interpretation of Richard Rorty’s notion of the private-public distinction. The first section of the article provides a short theoretical overview of the origins of the public-private distinction in Rorty’s political thought and clarifies the Rortian terminology. The main portion of the article is dedicated to the critique of Rorty’s private-public distinction, divided into two thematic sections: (i) the private-public distinction as undesirable and (ii) the private-public distinction as unattainable. I argue that Rorty’s formulation provides plausible answers to the first kind of criticism, but not to the second. Finally, a reformulation of the private-public distinction will be suggested, which both mitigates the second line of criticism and better coheres with Rorty’s general theory.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the author; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.