%0 Journal Article
%T Contingency, Irony and Morality: A Critical Review of Rorty¡¯s Notion of the Liberal Utopia
%A Wehan Murray Coombs
%J Humanities
%D 2013
%I MDPI AG
%R 10.3390/h2020313
%X This paper introduces Richard Rorty¡¯s notion of the liberal ironist and his vision of a liberal utopia and explores the implications of these for philosophical questions concerning morality, as well as morality in general. Rorty¡¯s assertions of the contingency of language, society and self are explored. Under the contingency of language, the figure of the ironist is defined, and Rorty¡¯s conception of vocabularies is discussed. Under the contingency of society, Rorty¡¯s definition of liberalism, his opposition of literary culture to materialist and metaphysical culture, and his notions concerning utopian politics are discussed. Under the contingency of self, Rorty¡¯s critique of Kantian and his appropriations of Deweyan and Freudian conceptions of morality are presented. Other key factors discussed are Rorty¡¯s theory of the separation of the private and public spheres of life and his ideas concerning cruelty and human solidarity. In this way, a critical analysis of Rorty¡¯s proposed balance between private, ironic doubt and public, liberal social hope is presented and assessed in terms of its merit as a system of thought suited to the needs of post-metaphysical, liberal societies.
%K Richard Rorty
%K pragmatism
%K morality
%K liberalism
%K ironism
%U http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/2/2/313