Publicity & Privacy in Richard Rorty's Religious Philosophy

Abstract

The article covers the religious conception in the work of the famous American philosopher Richard Rorty. The author emphasises the secular and finalist views of R. Rorty on the nature of religion, and on the philosopher’s gradual perception of the need for their creative reinterpretation due to the actualisation of the role of religion in intellectual and political spheres. The article uncovers two fundamental constituents of Richard Rorty’s religious philosophy. The first of them is associated with R. Rorty’s perception of the ‘weak thinking’ concept in the writings of Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo. R. Rorty holds ‘weak thinking’ and ‘kenosis’ to be the key to understanding the possibility of religion in the postmodern era. The second aspect concerns the existence of religion in the public space. Here the distinction between ‘strong’ narratives and ‘weak’ thinking correlates with the politically significant distinction between ‘strong’ religious institutions and private (parish, community) religious practice. Rorty believes that the activity of ‘strong’ religious structures threatens liberal ‘social hope’ on the gradual democratisation of mankind. The article concludes that Richard Rorty’s philosophy of religion presents an original conception of religion in the context of modern temporal humanism; the concept positively evaluates religious experience to the extent that it does not become a basis for theoretical and political manipulations on the part of ‘strong’ religious institutes.