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There are many shameful incidents in America's past: the institution of slavery, genocidal assaults on the indigenous peoples of this continent, the escalation of the Vietnam War, and so on. What should our response to such acts be? Should we regard the nation as irredeemably tainted by sin and spend our time cataloging its evils, or should we acknowledge its shortcomings and make a conscious effort to turn it into a better nation?
Philosopher Richard Rorty believes that there is hope for America, but that today's Left is not meeting the challenge. He contrasts the cultural, academic Left's focus on our heritage of shame (which, he admits, has to the extent that it makes hatred intolerable had the positive effect of making America a more civil society) with the politically engaged reformist Left of the early part of this century. "The distinction between the old strategy and the new is important," he writes. "The choice between them makes the difference between what Todd Gitlin calls common dreams and what Arthur Schlesinger calls disuniting Americans. To take pride in being black or gay is an entirely reasonable response to the sadistic humiliation to which one has been subjected. But insofar as this pride prevents someone from also taking pride in being an American citizen, from thinking of his or her country as capable of reform, or from being able to join with straights or whites in reformist initiatives, it is a political disaster."
Not everyone, to be sure, is going to agree with Rorty's ideas. But his approach to civic life, which is pragmatic in the tradition of John Dewey and visionary in the tradition of Walt Whitman, is bound to provoke increased discussion of what it is to be a citizen, and his call for a renewed awareness of the history of American reformist activism can only be applauded. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.
From Kirkus Reviews
In this slim volume (from a series of lectures), eminent liberal political theorist Rorty passes judgment on the state of the US left. And he is not amused. Beginning from familiar places for him, John Dewey and Walt Whitman, Rorty (Humanities/Univ. Of Virginia) argues that the faith of these men in what the US might become, their dismissal of all closed systems of thinking, their turn from religious authority to secular joy in the contingent process of democratic creation are all aspects of leftist thought missing from today's left, much to its detriment. In place of the search for a moral identity that will inspire and unite us, the left todaywhat he calls the ``academic'' or ``cultural'' lefthas opted instead for a ``detached spectatorship,'' condemnation without action or hope. Rorty traces the origins of this spectatorship to theorists such as Foucault, who insists on the irresistible ubiquitousness of power. The appeal of such spectatorship he traces to the US New Left and its experience with the Vietnam War. In Vietnam the US ``sinned,'' became beyond redemption, and so the New Left turned its back on ever reforming such a place. The Left retreated to academia, theory, culture, and spectatorship. This is all, however, a very familiar scenario by now (if argued in an interestingly odd way), and one wonders why it needs repeating, Rorty seems only to be using the New Left as a straw person here, and his depiction of the ``academic'' Left is caricature. Assertion substitutes for analysis. Lapses in logic occur: He chastises the Left, for instance, for being both Marxist and ``postmodern,'' yet the two tendencies stand mostly opposed to each other. Like an obscure club recording from a major jazz musician, this is a minor work from a profound thinker that perhaps only true devotees of Rorty will find of value. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
-- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.
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Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
In this collection, which includes his three Massey lectures delivered in 1997 and two related essays from 1995, Richard Rorty argues that the once vital "left," to which America is deeply indebted, has sadly rendered itself irrelevant. Rorty critiques members of the (post)modern left who, embittered by pervasive injustice, have eschewed meaningful campaigns for political change in favor of too-abstract theory, too-utopian "movements" and too-pessimistic contempt for those who would work "within the system" for necessary reform. The American Left, Rorty argues, has become "spectatorial" rather than "participatory," able to comment upon the nation's descent into oligarchy but stymied by view that our nation's sins are so ingrained as to place us beyond redemption.
Drawing on figures such as Walt Whitman, John Dewey, Abraham Lincoln, Irving Howe, Herbert Croly, and Harold Bloom, Rorty conjures an inspiring vision of a left that reconciles economic and cultural progressivism and becomes once again a participatry, progressive, and relevant force in American politics.
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...not a spectacular or well arguemented book but one providing many insights. Insights needed particularily for my generation of ambivalent college students...being bombarded with the shames of our country's past and current state. Are these reasons enough to ignore our country while we each separetly pursue our own selfish interests? No, we as Americans must do something better for our country...a shared belief in hope needs to be in our consciousness. One that works for us all. The book helps you perceive things and why we cannot give up on our country.
Format:Taschenbuch
Some of the other reviewers of this book seem to have missed the point that this is the text of lectures, not a book length analysis of the policatical left in modern America. Rorty's intent, it seems to me, was to provoke thinking about leftist activity at the political level, not analyse leftist theory. As with other of his works, Rorty is openingly an advocate of a return of the influence of Dewey. I really recommend this book, especially to those who consider themselves on the political left and are wondering why the importance of social reform in America seems to have faded since Vietnam.
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Red Diaper Baby Still in the Dark
By his own admission, Rorty grew up in NYC when immigrant intellectuals and/or their offspring were defending Stalin's Soviet Union despite reports of terror and brutal repression... Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 16. Dezember 1999 veröffentlicht
LEFT RULES
this guy rocks! RED RUlEZ
Am 27. Oktober 1999 veröffentlicht
Rorty should find a new hobby.
Rorty points out the error of many while offering little in solutions. I found this book to be uninforming and redundant. Lesen Sie weiter...
Am 17. Dezember 1998 veröffentlicht
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