Artykuły

Tom 9 Nr 2 (2014)

Rola filozofii we współczesnych demokracjach zachodnich. Analiza tez Richarda Rorty’ego

Tomasz Szymon Markiewka

Strony: 35 - 52

Abstrakt

The role of philosophy in contemporary Western democracies. The analysis of Richard Rorty’s theses

The main aim of the article is to analyze Richard Rorty’s attitude towards phil-osophy. Rorty claims that philosophy does not play an important role in contemporary Western societies anymore. The author of the text shows that this statement can be understood in three different ways. 1 Philosophers have something interesting to say, but nobody wants to listen to them. 2 Philosophers cannot guarantee any kind of philosophical foundation for liberal democracy. 3 Philosophy is useless when we try to solve some political and social problems which occur in our contemporary Western countries. Rorty argues in favor of all three theses, but he does not distinguish them. The author scrutinizes these three points and tries to point out to what extent Rorty is right and to what extent Rorty is wrong.