Richard Rorty's Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity - Video 1: Introduction

(New version with LOUDER AUDIO.)

In this series, we will discuss Richard Rorty's 1989 book "Contingency, Irony and Solidarity". The main purpose of that book is to paint the picture of a new type of intellectual, the liberal ironist, and to persuade us that we want to be like that picture.

One essential characteristic of the liberal ironist is that she understands that even her own deepest convictions are contingent: they are the end result of a historical process that could also have gone in a completely different direct, and they do not reflect some fundamental nature of reality or human beings. Another essential characteristic of the liberal ironist is that she doesn't try to bring together her own public desire for solidarity and her own private projects of self-creation.

"Contingency, Irony and Solidarity" is an essential book in the development of Rorty's philosophy, and a classic of 20th century anti-metaphysical thought.

Victor Gijsbers teaches philosophy at Leiden University in the Netherlands. This video is part of his lecture series on Richard Rorty's Contingency, Irony and Solidarity: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8Nxd4OXpzqn6ezWdJ5_zQzeQg5Dh-Kyz

Видео Richard Rorty's Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity - Video 1: Introduction канала Victor Gijsbers