Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature: Thirtieth-Anniversary Edition (Princeton Classics Book 81) by Richard Rorty (PDF)

Description

When it first appeared in 1979, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature hit the philosophical world like a bombshell. In it, Richard Rorty argued that, beginning in the seventeenth century, philosophers developed an unhealthy obsession with the notion of representation: comparing the mind to a mirror that reflects reality. Rorty’s book is a powerful critique of this imagery and the tradition of thought that it spawned. Today, the book remains a must-read and stands as a classic of twentieth-century philosophy. Its influence on the academy, both within philosophy and across a wide array of disciplines, continues unabated. This edition includes new essays by philosopher Michael Williams and literary scholar David Bromwich, as well as Rorty’s previously unpublished essay “The Philosopher as Expert.”

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐First, you should be aware that my own philosophy is a philosophy of reason. It is thus radically different in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and politics from Rorty’s philosophy. My interests show up in my two books. The first is

⭐. The second is

⭐. In other words, I am not a fan of Rorty.I have read some of Rorty’s writings in order to learn about him for my next project, a look at the current war between reason and mysticism in the USA.From this viewpoint, I can recommend Rorty’s book only if you are determined to “know” postmodernism first-hand. Consulting secondary sources–about Rorty’s philosophy–will be helpful before or after struggling through Rorty’s book.What about the content of the book? In an April 11, 2012 post on my weblog, _The Main Event_, I said:**********For a partial summary of Rorty’s main points in PMN, see Michael Williams, “Introduction to the Thirtieth-Anniversary Edition” [of the book]. Williams’s “Introduction” also provides historical background information that makes this difficult book easier to understand….OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK. In Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature Rorty examines philosophy as performed by academics in the 1970s. He sees philosophers making false assumptions. His main target is a certain set of related ideas, which Descartes created: (1) each person has a mind, (2) the mind is like a mirror reflecting reality (“nature”), and (3) truth is ideas corresponding to that reality. Rorty’s intention is to destroy that set of ideas and that metaphor. Rorty’s approach, through most of the book, is to critique in detail the ideas (and the accompanying metaphor) as presented by a range of philosophers, including Descartes, Locke, Kant, and a train of post-Kantians such as Ludwig Wittgenstein. In this way, most of the book is negative. Rorty devotes one chapter, the last one (Ch. VIII, “Philosophy Without Mirrors”) to a presentation of his own views….Rorty is determined to destroy reason. About his own book, he says:*** The aim of the book is to undermine the reader’s confidence in “the mind” as something about which one should have a “philosophical” view, in “knowledge” as something about which there ought to be a theory and which has “foundations”, and in “philosophy” [centered on epistemology] as it has been conceived since Kant. *** (p. 7)This passage is typical of Rorty’s writing style. Clause by clause, it is moderately clear, but the sentence as a whole is hard to assimilate. It is long, but more importantly rational readers who are new to Rorty’s philosophy will have trouble believing he means what he says. His statement is radically destructive of reason, but expressed banally.**********If you want to get a direct taste of postmodernism, for American culture, this is a book to read. You will need dedication to work your way through it. But then you will have experienced postmodernism.

⭐Not in my opinion. He is more like a philosophy professor. If you enjoy hearing someone constantly name-drop other philosophers and professors, and endlessly set their quotes in opposition, then this is the book for you. Out of 230 pages, before I eventually became exhausted, the only time he seemed to speak for himself was when he talked about how koalas were considered more loveable than pigs because they have cute faces and tug our heart strings when they writhe in pain. He cannot stop mentioning pain. He brings it up all the time. I wish he found pleasure as useful in making his points instead of always focusing on pain. If there is anything original in this work, it is not in the first 230 pages. He just made me more resolved to read Dewey, Wittgenstein, and some more Heidegger. I would rather be baffled by Heidegger than read more Rorty.Two stars for the content, because it feels like an awkward compendium of what a dozen other people have thought with very little contributed by Rorty himself. He basically added to my reading list, that is all. I give it a third star for the quality of the edition. It is a nice book to look at and hold in the hand, although it has Rorty’s big goofy face on the cover.

⭐I was a bit disappointed. Some interesting issues raised about science and linguistics, but the philosophy is somewhat tenuous. Clearly following the trend that only academic philosophers need understand each other leaves the intelligent layman out in left field. Carl Sagan once lamented this same trend in the sciences, that is, that astronomers need only write for other astronomers. Obviously, String Theory is headed in the same direction, making it unintelligible for all but physicists who have been trained in the new math. Great thinkers are readily grasped by readers outside their own field. I met a philosopher who didn’t want me to read his book because it was too “technical”. As far as I am concerned, if you can’t put your theories into plain and lucid language, your work will become useless and discarded by the majority of people who read books and use libraries.

⭐I’ve been perplexed and intrigued by this book while reading it off and on for many years. I’d suggest approaching Rorty through the collected essays published later, and the volume _Reading Rorty_ offers thoughtful perspectives from some of his best readers. His take on Derrida must be open to reconsideration, always will be.

⭐Classic! Everyone interested in philosophy should read this!

⭐Good format and good value for money. Excellent service.

⭐A classic of western philosophy. Love it or hate it, it’s been a real watershed, as the first, articulated analytical critique to analytical philosophy. It contributed to new perspective of dialogue and theory in western thought. A must read (even for hardcore foundationalists)!

⭐Es geht un diesem Buch um philsophy of Mind, falls jemand Interesse an dem Buch hat.Dann ist es nur ihm zu empefhlen. Mehr kann ich nicht sagen. Selber bewertet nach der Lektüre!

⭐

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