Richard Rorty and the Idea of Political Hope

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Liberalism as Uncertainty

Häftad, Engelska, 2026

699 kr

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Hope is a vital force in politics, nourishing our visions of the future when things seem irredeemably bleak. Contemporary philosophy is trapped within a view of hope as an everyday desire empty of ethical and political content. Much political theory defers to philosophy and appears unable to appreciate the value of hope as a political attitude. Through an interpretive conversation with Richard Rorty, Robert Lamb shows how Rorty uses Hegel to develop a compelling, alternative understanding of hope as the yearning for a better future amidst a contingent social world and fragile political inheritance. Commitment to political hope - an enemy of despair, optimism, and certainty - invites a reorientation of philosophical reflection and involves a demanding civic ethos to sustain communities fragmented by pathological individualism. Rorty's interpretations of John Rawls, feminism, and the redemptive potential of history show the relevance of hope for the urgent challenges facing twenty-first century liberal democracy.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2026-09-30
Vikt250 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor290
FörlagCambridge University Press
ISBN9781009749947

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Acknowledgements; Note on texts; Introduction: hope and politics; 1. Moral psychology and the depoliticization of hope; 2. Political theory and the instrumentalisation of hope; 3. Yearning for a contingent future: Richard Rorty and the idea of liberal hope; 4. Hope as political philosophy: reading Rawls with Rorty; 5. Hope and the ethos of a liberal community; 6. Hopelessness; Bibliography; Index.

'Inspiring as it is rigorous, Robert Lamb's Richard Rorty and the Idea of Political Hope is a timely work for the darkening present. At its core stands a revelatory account of the late, oft-maligned and misunderstood pragmatist thinker, from whom Lamb reconstructs a specifically political vision of hope as a crucially collaborative social disposition. In the process, Lamb carefully traverses an extraordinary range of topics, with bracing and insightful discussions of Hegel, Rawls, Marx, feminism, liberalism, realism, justice, social truth, optimism, pessimism, curiosity, progress, utopia, love, humility, cruelty, philosophy, literature, and so much more. A wonderful book.' Loren Goldman, University of Pennsylvania