Ricerc@Sapienza

The present Symposium aims at challenging some received views about the meaning and legacy of Rorty’s ethical and political philosophy, as well as at furthering new interpretations and reworkings of his writings on such topics. In particular, by showing how Rorty’s philosophy is corrosive and yet fertile, skeptical and yet effective, the essays that follow question the opportunity of revamping the perhaps exhausted label of a post- philosopher – which was quite a popular option in the 1980s, also thanks to a number of statements by Rorty himself expressing his dissatisfaction with a significant portion of the philosophical community and sympathy for the then-blooming «post-modernist» program in the humanities at large – also showing the measure in which Rorty’s writings, far from being those of a philosopher’s philosopher – whom, again and curiously enough, apparently tried hard to insulate himself from the best part of such community – can be relevant and effective for the leading of lives inspired and challenged by post-foundational concerns.