Abstract

Richard Rorty transforms classical American philosophy in a way that overcomes some ideological limitations of the first Pragmatists, and responds to international currents of contemporary thought. The result is a Pragmatism that has for the first time attracted world attention. Rorty skillfully brought together Pragmatism with postmodern European philosophy. In doing so he inevitably accentuates certain aspects of the American tradition at the expense of others. His new Pragmatism “overcomes” most of what distinguishes the first Pragmatism from Nietzsche and European thought influenced by him. Instead of an alternative to continental postmodernism Rorty creates a postmodern Pragmatism.