Essays on Heidegger and Others: Philosophical Papers, Volume 2 [Paperback]

Richard Rorty (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521358787 | ISBN-13: 978-0521358781 | Publication Date: February 22, 1991

The second volume pursues the themes of the first volume in the context of discussions of recent European philosophy focusing on the work of Heidegger and Derrida. His four essays on Heidegger include "Philosophy as Science, as Metaphor and as Politics" and "Heidegger, Kundera, and Dickens;" three essays on Derrida (including "Deconstruction and Circumvention" and "Is Derrida a Transcendental Philosopher?") are followed by a discussion of the uses to which Paul de Man and his followers have put certain Derridean ideas. Rorty's concluding essays broaden outward with an essay on "Freud and Moral Deliberation" and essays discussing the social theories and political attitudes of various contemporary figures--Foucault, Lyotard, Habermas, Unger, and Castoriadis.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Rorty contends that the European philosophers who rank as Nietzsche's principal successors, most notably Heidegger and Derrida, can be viewed as quite similar to the American pragmatists. Instead of asking, "How does the mind correctly represent the world?" they claim that one should instead ask, "What ideas are useful for us now?" Rorty denies that reality has an essence independent of anyone's way of thinking about it. The nature of something depends on the description one gives it; this in turn is relative to the goals we have. Similarly, our goals vary and do not constitute a fixed edifice determined in advance of our choices to pursue them. Thus, in "Unger, Castoriadis, and a National Future," Rorty celebrates the sense of open possibility and continual experiment that both the political writers he discusses there possess in abundance. Rorty's fascinating presentation of recent intellectual history is impressive in its scope and penetration. Only adherence to its lessons prevents one from calling it "essential" reading. For another assessment of Rorty's views in other areas of philosophy, see his Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth: Philosophical Papers , Vol. 1, reviewed below.--Ed.
- David Gordon, Bowling Green State Univ., Ohio
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Rorty's fascinating presentation of recent intellectual history is impressive in its scope and penetration." Library Journal

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (February 22, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521358787
• ISBN-13: 978-0521358781
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #279,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Provocative connection-making, January 3, 2002

By 

W Beaufort-Brantley (Oxfordshire, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essays on Heidegger and Others: Philosophical Papers, Volume 2 (Paperback)

This is a fascinating work wherein Rorty once again proves himself a master of the consolidation of varying ideas and philosophical tracts. Yes, he does borrow a lot of ideas/interpretations from "second source" philosophers, people like Okrent, but that shouldn't discourage potential readers: Rorty excels at making intricate and original connections -- networks of thought. Certainly, not all of his arguments are unassailable, but they are almost always provocative. The points he makes along the way are often as intriguing as the larger point he tries to make with the essay itself. Also, the print, as another reviewer has mentioned, is indeed somewhat small, but I wouldn't say it offers a significant problem as far as reading goes. Oddly, the print in another set of his "philosophical papers," that on Truth and Progress, is larger though also published by Cambridge. Get this book, it's good reading.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some interesting possibilities...., June 23, 2000

By 

Jeff Bricker (Columbus, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Essays on Heidegger and Others: Volume 2: Philosophical Papers (Hardcover)

In this collection of essays Richard Rorty attempts to answer the question: What, if anything, can we liberal American intellectuals gain from reading the likes of Heidegger and Derrida? His answer: Plenty, if we can just manage to rescue Derrida from his admirers (Norris, Gasche) and Heidegger from himself.

This volume also contains shrewd and provocative discussions of Habermas, Lyotard, and the loathsome Foucault.

Readers new to Rorty might want to begin with the fourth essay: HEIDEGGER, KUNDERA, AND DICKENS. It's a reflection on the moral worth of the European novel and manages to touch on many of the themes Rorty has explored in his more recent writings.

WARNING! The print font is tiny! Cambridge University Press should be ashamed of itself.

13 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't be taken in, May 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Essays on Heidegger and Others: Philosophical Papers, Volume 2 (Paperback)

WOW. That's what most people will say as they read this & think what a brilliant stylist Rorty is, how reasonable he makes his ideas sound, how "postmodern" and original etc. etc. it all is, bringing in Heidegger and Wittgenstein and Freud and even Dickens and making them all sound like they're saying the same thing.

If you cut through all the blurb there's actually not much solid argument there. He gets all his pragmatist interpretations of Heidegger from Okrent, like he admits, rather than thinking it through himself, and doesn't bring them to any startlingly new conclusions. He even admits his leftist-Nietzschean-Deweyan stance has no "logical" reason or meaning behind it, yet he claims its better than other viewpoints! Once you throw away meaning, you can't apply it to yourself.

He also displays no knowledge of psychology except Freud, and so just about accepts Freud was mostly right, like most Americans who read Freud & assume there's no need to read anyone else. Binswanger? Grof? Jung? Not only that, but he then subverts Freud's ideas to his own agenda.

There's a lot of interesting ideas thrown up, and a lot of food for thought, but in the end there's no original content of any worth. He just picks & chooses the parts of philosophers he likes to make it seem like they all lead towards his own pragmatic socialist stance, when if he took into account all the information there's nobody he quotes, not even Dewey, (except perhaps Foucalt - another overrated "postmodernist" type) who really would accept Rorty's use of them, were they to read it.

If you read all the texts he quotes/likes/attacks from "Being & Time", Husserl's "Crisis..." Nietzsche's works, Quine, Jacques Derrida, Plato -and read them all, and Rorty's, critically - you'll come to realise that if Rorty's right there's not a lot point to it all anymore - except he's NOT right.