The paper is aimed at discussing two interpretations of pragmatism in a broader framework of general rules of philosophical interpretation. J. Habermas’ and R. Rorty’s uses of pragmatism are considered in detail and confronted with general assumptions of pragmatic philosophy. It is shown that in both cases the original ideas of pragmatism are changed in order to fit the philosophies of interpreters. The paper ends with discussion of a possibility of applying the rule of interpretative charity and dialogue to philosophical analyses.
Habermas, J. (1987) The Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. II, Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason, trans. T. McCarthy. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
2.
Habermas, J. (1992) ‘Individuation through Socialization: on George Herbert Mead’s Theory of Subjectivity’, in: J. Habermas, Postmetaphysical Thinking: Philosophical Essays, trans. William Mark Hohengarten. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press.
3.
including ‘The Unhappy Marriage of Hermeneutics and Functionalism: Jürgen Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action’ and ‘American Pragmatism and German Thought: a History of Misunderstanding’.
4.
Rorty, R. (1967) ‘Introduction: Metaphilosophical Difficulties of Linguistic Philosophy’, in The Linguistic Turn: Recent Essays on Philosophical Method. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
5.
Rorty, R. (1979) Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
6.
Rorty, R. (1982) Consequences of Pragmatism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
7.
including ‘Inquiry as Recontextualization: an Anti-dualist Account of Interpretation’, and ‘Pragmatism, Davidson and Truth’.
8.
including ‘Cosmopolitanism without Emancipation: a Response to Jean-François Lyotard’.
9.
Rorty, R. (1995) Rorty and Pragmatism: The Philosopher Responds to His Critics, ed. Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr.Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press; including ‘Response to Richard Bernstein’.
10.
Shusterman, R. (1997) ‘Pragmatism and Liberalism. Between Dewey and Rorty’, Political Theory22(3): 391-413.
