From: Scott R (jse885@spinn.net)
Date: Tue Jan 07 2003 - 03:28:58 GMT
Matt,
>
> "Rorty is several light years from mysticism"
>
> Yes and no. Rorty doesn't talk a lot about mysticism, so on first gloss,
> yes. But one of his major commentators who wrote an introduction to him
> (Malachowski) compared Rorty's thinking (I think quite successfully) to
> Madhyamika Buddhism (correct me Scott, if its not Buddhism) and Nagarjuna.
Yes, Madhyamika is Buddhism (it means "middle path", i.e., between
asceticism and hedonism/materialism), and Nagarjuna was a Buddhist first and
foremost. That means that his deconstruction had a salvific purpose (to
convince oneself of one's own lack of essence, so to speak, and hence
promote detachment, and hence become Awakened), which is where the
similarity between him and Rorty breaks down. So I would say that Rorty is
in fact "several light years from mysticism" given his secularism. Rorty
(and Derrida et al) still have some deconstruction to do on their own
outlook.
- Scott
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