I argue that the specter haunting multiculturalism is incommensurability. In many discussions of multiculturalism there is a ‘picture’ that holds us captive — a picture of cultures, religious or ethnic groups that are self-contained and are radically incommensurable with each other. I explore and critique this concept of incommensurability. I trace the idea of incommensurability back to the discussion by Thomas Kuhn — and especially to the ways in which his views were received. Drawing on Gadamer’s understanding of hermeneutics, I (...) argue that the very idea of radical incommensurability is incoherent. This does not entail an abstract universalism but rather sensitivity to the ways in which all languages and cultures are in principle open to the real possibility of enlarging one’s vision and mutually understanding. (shrink)
Toward philosophy without mirrors -- Introduction: Metaphilosophical difficulties of lingustic philosophy -- Dewey's metaphysics -- Philosophy and the mirror of nature -- Pragmatism, relativism, and irrationalism -- Nineteenth-century idealism and twentieth-century textualism -- Conversations with analytic philosophy -- From logic to language to play -- Pragmatism, Davidson, and truth -- Twenty-five years after -- Putnam and the relativist menace -- Analytic and conversational philosophy -- From anti-representationalism -- To political liberalism -- Philosophy as science, as metaphor, and as politics -- (...) Solidarity or objectivity -- The priority of democracy to philosophy -- Freud and moral reflection -- Private irony and liberal hope -- Pragmatism, literature, and democracy -- The humanistic intellectual eleven theses -- Philosophers, novelists, and intercultural comparisons : Heidegger, Kundera, and Dickens -- De man and the American cultural left -- Feminism and pragmatism -- Human rights, rationality, and sentimentality -- Looking backwards from the year 2096 -- American national pride Whitman and Dewey -- Redemption from egotism -- Philosophy as cultural politics -- Truth without correspondence to reality -- Ethics without principles -- Justice as a larger loyalty -- Pragmatism as romantic polytheism -- Religion in the public square -- Is cultural recognition a useful concept for leftist politics? -- Philosophy as a transitional genre -- Autobiographical -- From philosophy to post-philosophy -- Trotsky and the wild orchids -- Biography and philosophy -- The fire of life. (shrink)
This paper focuses on two key issues in Nicholas Wolterstorff's Justice: Rights and Wrongs . It argues that Wolterstorff's theistic grounding of inherent rights is not successful. It also argues that Wolterstorff does not provide adequate criteria for determining what exactly these natural inherent rights are or criteria that can help us to evaluate competing and contradictory claims about these rights. However, most of Wolterstorff's book is not concerned with the theistic grounding of inherent rights. Instead, it is devoted to (...) a detailed and rigorous articulation of the meaning and defense of a theory of justice as consisting of inherent rights and with showing why this theory of justice is superior to the alternative right order theories that Wolterstorff criticizes. The paper concludes that these accomplishments are not diminished even if Wolterstorff has failed to provide us with a satisfactory theistic grounding of his theory. (shrink)
" Bernstein's primary concern throughout this challenging book is to enrich and deepen our understanding of evil in the contemporary world, and to emphasize the ...
"A fascinating and timely treatment of the objectivism versus relativism debates occurring in philosophy of science, literary theory, the social sciences, ...
Against the background of disputes about modernity and post-modernity in philosophy, this paper probes the differences among Gadamer, Habermas, and Rorty. Focusing on the themes of praxis, phronesis, and practical discourse, it is argued that what initially appear to be hard and fast cleavages and irreconcilable differences turn out to be differences of emphasis. The common ground that emerges is adumbrated as "non-foundational pragmatic humanism". Although there are important differences among these three thinkers each of their voices contributes to a (...) coherent conversation in developing "moral-political vision". (shrink)
"The ancient and modern question of what is the nature of man and his activity and what ought to be the directions pursued in this activity is once again being ...
