Prisoner of Conscience
[posted by Callimachus]
Edward Rothstein on the late Richard Rorty
I might humbly add, being neither philosopher nor New York Times critic, that, in light of the images of people plunging in flames to their deaths from the skies, if that really was his first thought, it reflects a certain lack of something else, too.
Edward Rothstein on the late Richard Rorty
One tendency of pragmatism might be to so focus on the ways in which one’s own worldview is flawed that trauma is more readily attributed to internal failure than to external challenges. In one of his last interviews Mr. Rorty recalled the events of 9/11: “When I heard the news about the twin towers, my first thought was: ‘Oh, God. Bush will use this the way Hitler used the Reichstag fire.’ ”
If that really was his first thought, it reflects a certain amount of reluctance to comprehend forces lying beyond the boundaries of his familiar world, an inability fully to imagine what confrontations over truth might look like, possibly even a resistance to stepping outside of one’s skin or mental habits.
I might humbly add, being neither philosopher nor New York Times critic, that, in light of the images of people plunging in flames to their deaths from the skies, if that really was his first thought, it reflects a certain lack of something else, too.
Labels: Richard Rorty
