Solidarity in Contingency: Rorty's Constructive Project

Solidarity in Contingency: Rorty’s Constructive Project | Open Book Publishers 📚 Save Big on Books! Enjoy 10% off when you spend £100 and 20% off when you spend £200 (or the equivalent in supported currencies)—discount automatically applied when you add books to your cart before checkout! Catalogue About Publish with us Libraries Sales Open Software Support us 0 DOI https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0487 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Copyright Elin D. Huckerby; Marianne Janack. Copyright of individual chapters are maintained by the chapter author(s). Published On 2025-12-02 ISBN Paperback 978-1-80511-709-4 Hardback 978-1-80511-710-0 PDF 978-1-80511-711-7 HTML 978-1-80511-713-1 EPUB 978-1-80511-712-4 Language English Print Length 242 pages (xii+230) Dimensions Paperback 156 x 13 x 234 mm (6.14" x 0.51" x 9.21") Hardback 156 x 14 x 234 mm (6.14" x 0.55" x 9.21") Weight Paperback 349g (12.31oz) Hardback 520g (18.34oz) OCLC Number 1561181946 LCCN 2025465540 THEMA QDTS QDHR3 JPHV JHBA JBSF11 BISAC PHI019000 PHI020000 PHI000000 PHI034000 POL007000 SOC026040 LCC B945.R524 Keywords Richard Rorty Pragmatism Democratic solidarity Contingency Ironism Liberal ironist Powered by Thoth . Philosophy Politics and Sociology Solidarity in Contingency Rorty’s Constructive Project Elin D. Huckerby ( editor ) Marianne Janack ( editor ) Read Online Download Printed Editions Richard Rorty (1931–2007), once dubbed ‘the man who killed truth’, is best known for challenging the idea that philosophy provides foundational knowledge. Yet beyond the controversy lies a vital, underexplored side of Rorty’s work: his constructive vision for fostering democratic solidarity in a world shaped by contingency and uncertainty. This volume shifts focus from defending Rorty to applying his insights for today’s fractured, post-truth culture. Centered on Rorty’s "Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity" (1989), the collection explores how his pragmatism helps us reimagine philosophy as a cultural practice—one grounded not in timeless truths, but in shared hopes, vocabularies, and democratic cooperation. The volume brings together seven original essays that revisit Rortyan concepts like liberal ironism, poetic redescription, eirenism, and democratic solidarity, and explore their implications for social justice, feminist theory, public discourse, and the humanities. Rather than lament relativism or retreat into essentialism, these contributions demonstrate how Rorty’s philosophy offers practical, imaginative tools for navigating difference and building inclusive societies. Emphasizing creativity over certainty and solidarity over skepticism, this timely volume reclaims Rorty’s legacy as a philosopher of hope—and a resource for democratic renewal in our era of radical uncertainty. Metrics Resources Contents Contributors Additional Resources [ document ] EPUB Accessibility Report Contents 1. Introduction: From Explication to Application (pp. 1–10) Elin D. Huckerby Marianne Janack 2. Rorty’s Interpretations and the Possibility of Social Change (pp. 11–24) Marianne Janack 3. Tenderness as the Norm: Rorty on ‘Intense Mental Pain’ (pp. 25–56) Paul Giladi 4. Actually (Anti-)Utopian? Levitas, Rorty and the Conditions of Utopianism (pp. 57–92) Elin D. Huckerby 5. Pragmatist Eirenism in Post-Truth Society (pp. 93–122) Michela Bella 6. Creative Doubts against Authoritarian Certainty: Rorty through Reparative Critique (pp. 123–146) Heidi Salaverría 7. Rortyan Irony as Civic Virtue in Our Myside Society (pp. 147–174) Martin Müller 8. Irony as Hope and the Future of the Humanities (pp. 175–200) Bryan Vescio Contributors Elin D. Huckerby ( editor ) Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Foreign Languages at University of Bergen https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1990-0204 https://www4.uib.no/en/find-employees/Elin.Danielsen.Huckerby Dr Huckerby is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Foreign Languages at the University of Bergen, where she works on perceptions and portrayals of populism and populist dynamics, specifically in post-Brexit British literature ("Brexlit"), and teaches American and British literatures in context. She was awarded a PhD from the University of Cambridge (2021) for a study on the pragmatist philosopher Richard Rorty's uses of literature, has published articles and chapters on his work. In 2021 she won the Rorty’s Society’s global essay competition for a paper based on her doctoral work and is now writing a book on Rorty’s aesthetics. Huckerby also hold an MSc in Computer Science and Telematics, and is the convener and coordinator of the Norwegian Pragmatism Network. Marianne Janack ( editor ) John Stewart Kennedy Professor of Philosophy at Hamilton College https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9338-6077 https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/our-faculty/directory/faculty-detail/marianne-janack Professor Janack is the John Stewart Kennedy Professor of Philosophy, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. She teaches classes in philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, feminist philosophy, and philosophy and literature, and has, in addition to numerous papers, published books such as What We Mean By Experience (Stanford, 2012) and edited the collection Feminist Interpretations of Richard Rorty. She is working on a book about David Foster Wallace. 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