From: Paul Turner (paulj.turner@ntlworld.com)
Date: Tue Oct 28 2003 - 09:39:49 GMT
Hi Matt
David M said:
I take the Rorty-reader to say that the two cultures have different
values and that you cannot say one is superior to the other. They have
different language games and live in different worlds. I have heard
Rorty take a position of 'no way to judge' in respect of so-called
primitive cultures.
Matt:
This isn't quite right, though many have interpreted Rorty as saying
this.
Paul:
To help clarify the pragmatist rules of intellectual engagement,
considering that "Rorty writes that "the works of anybody whose mind was
complex enough to make his or her books worth reading will not have an
'essence,' that those books will admit of a fruitful diversity of
interpretations, that the quest for 'an authentic reading' is
pointless."
And
"Accuracy assumes an established reference point with which we can refer
and check, like Galileo's birthday."
Is it ever possible, as a Rortyan pragmatist, to say about an
interpretation of an author's thoughts that "This isn't quite right..."?
And if intersubjective agreement is the pragmatist measure of "right,"
doesn't "right" equally belong to the "many [who] have interpreted Rorty
as saying this" as to those, like yourself, who haven't?
Cheers
Paul
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