Liberalism, Ethnocentrism, and Solidarity

Abstract

In this paper I defend Richard Rorty against two critics of his moral and political philosophy —Will Kymlicka and Robert Talisse— to whom Rorty himself never responded directly. I argue that Kymlicka misrepresents Rorty's so-called ethnocentrism by giving it a needlessly affirmative reading, and that Talisse, by failing to appreciate the distinction between making truth claims and proposing experiments misunderstands both Rorty's use of Darwin and his anti-foundational liberalism.