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3 - Kant as a Critical Philosopher

from I - Early Papers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2020

W. P. Małecki
Affiliation:
University of Wrocław, Poland
Chris Voparil
Affiliation:
Union Institute and University, Ohio
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Summary

“Kant as a Critical Philosopher” constitutes Rorty’s only paper devoted exclusively to Immanuel Kant. Through a probing, sympathetic, and original account of Kant and his relation to Aristotle and Wittgenstein, Rorty develops a distinctive understanding of critical philosophy. Briefly put, a critical philosopher aims to present a vocabulary that will invalidate both skeptical attempts at undermining a given datum and foundationalist attempts at grounding it. For Rorty, the central aim of Aristotle, Kant, and Wittgenstein was precisely to develop a vocabulary of this kind – a vocabulary targeting two kinds of opponents, foundationalists and skeptics – and it is for this reason that their philosophies provoke similar reactions. This interpretative framework allows Rorty to provide an explanation for the diversity of interpretations of Kant’s oeuvre and to highlight the lasting value of Kant’s thought, which for Rorty is to “make it impossible” to think that “the task of philosophy is to provide constitutive principles that will back up regulative principles.”

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On Philosophy and Philosophers
Unpublished Papers, 1960–2000
, pp. 38 - 64
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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