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Summary
An engagement between Confucianism and the philosophy of Richard Rorty.
Rorty, Pragmatism, and Confucianism offers a fascinating conversation between Confucianism, historically the dominant tradition in Chinese thought and society, and the contemporary philosophy of Richard Rorty. Well aware that his philosophical hero, John Dewey, has had a lasting influence among Chinese intellectuals, Rorty expressed a wish that his own books, which have been rapidly translated into Chinese, be read as an updated version of Dewey’s philosophy. In this book, twelve authors engage Rorty’s thought in a hermeneutic dialogue with Confucianism, using Confucianism to interpret and reconstruct Rorty while exploring such topics as human nature, moral psychology, moral relativism, moral progress, democracy, tradition, moral metaphysics, and religiosity. Rorty himself provides a detailed reply to each author.
“…the volume is a valuable expansion of the scope of contemporary Confucian scholarship.” — Philosophy East & West
“…all the essays in this volume go a long way toward facilitating a productive dialogue between pragmatism and Confucian thought. As both of these traditions struggle to redefine themselves in the present and future cultural contexts—both on their native soils and abroad—a book like this will continue to prove useful for a long time to come.” — China Review International
Contributors include Robert Allinson, Roger Ames, James Behuniak, Cheng Chungying, James Kelly Clark, Yong Huang, Chenyang Li, Marjorie Miller, Hans-Georg Moeller, Peimin Ni, Richard Rorty, Sor-hoon Tan, and Kuang-ming Wu.
Yong Huang is Professor of Philosophy at Kutztown University and the author of Religious Goodness and Political Rightness: Beyond the Liberal-Communitarian Debate.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
1. Rorty and Confucianism: An Introduction YONG HUANG
PART I Relativity, Contingency, and Moral Progress
2. Rorty, Confucius, and Intercultural Relativism KUANG-MING WU
3. On Three Contingencies in Richard Rorty: A Confucian Critique CHUNG-YING CHENG
4. Rorty’s Progress into Confucian Truths YONG HUANG
PART II Morality and Human Nature
5. A Comparative Examination of Rorty’s and Mencius’s Theories of Human Nature PEIMIN NI
6. Rorty and Mencius on Family, Nature, and Morality JAMES BEHUNIAK JR.
7. Rorty Meets Confucius: A Dialogue Across Millenia ROBERT ELLIOTT ALLINSON
PART III Postmodernism: Community, Literature, and Value
8. A Confucian Response to Rorty’s Postmodern Bourgeois Liberal Idea of Community SOR-HOON TAN
9. Philosophy and Literature: Rorty and Confucianism HANS-GEORG MOELLER
10. Coping with Incommensurable Pursuits: Rorty, Berlin, and the Confucian-Daoist Complementarity CHENYANG LI
PART IV The “Other”: Nature, Reality, and Transcendence
11. Rortian Extremes and the Confucian Zhongyong MAJORIE C. MILLER
12. Tradition and Transcendence in Masters Kong and Rorty KELLY JAMES CLARK
13. Becoming Practically Religious: A Deweyan and Confucian Context for Rortian Religiousness ROGER T. AMES
