Rorty's New School of American Pride: The Constellation of Contestation and Consensus

Abstract

This paper is an historical study of Richard Rorty's political philosophy, demonstrating how his 'mature' thoughts about patriotism and nationalism (evidenced in Achieving Our Country) advance the complexity and nuance of his political theory. By showing where Rorty diverges from his earlier insistence upon the severe separation of the public and private, the paper hopes to expose his newfound appreciation of the private and cultural spheres and their roles in American pluralistic politics. In Rorty's more recent writings, contestation plays a more important part in building civic identity; the legitimacy of his patriotism and liberal consensus is now dependent on civil societies' access to the public sphere. Rorty's expanded site of politics, the paper argues, results from (among other things, to be sure) his 1984 confrontation with Jean-François Lyotard and his 1994 confrontation with Nancy Fraser. Rorty's more recent admission of the private sphere into politics is sensitive to the demands of legitimacy and makes the ongoing process of political legitimation more possible.