Richard Rorty: Critical Dialogues

'This volume is a cut above the rest since it finds Rorty's critics and commentators on excellent form and Rorty himself rising to the challenge with far more vigour and passion than he has often been able to muster in recent years. The editors have done a good job in keeping the focus steadily on social, political, and ethico-juridical issues and thereby giving the book a distinctive profile. They have also exercised shrewd judgement in assembling a well-qualified team of contributors whose attitudes range from outspoken opposition, through varying degrees of critical reserve, to qualified endorsement of Rorty's thinking on a number of central issues. This in turn has provoked Rorty to offer a series of thoughtful, extended and sometimes quite combative (even prickly) rejoinders which tell us far more about the scope and limits of his 'North-Atlantic postmodern bourgeois-liberal pragmatist' outlook than previous such encounters. This book should do much to extend and refine the terms of a debate around Rorty's work that has too often become just a pretext for the exchange of routine hostilities.' Christopher Norris, University of Cardiff, Wales

"[The book] is an example of first-rate critisism...This collection serves as a very good introduction to Rorty's work in these areas of philosophy. Further, the dialogical character of this collection makes it valuable for those who seek a refined understanding of Rorty's views." David F. Dudrick, Philosophy in Review