Research work · 2023
The philosopher finds himself: Richard Rorty on Martin Heidegger’s philosophy
Igor Yu. Larionov
Philosophy of the History of Philosophy
Abstract
The overall problem of this paper is the question if it is possible to consider the history of philosophy as unity and thus the history of European philosophy as a regular process of interaction of different concepts and schools of thought which approach the truth as it's main subject. Does the history of philosophy have any distinctive meaning in itself that changes in accordance with the change of historical periods? The paper analyzes the theoretical dialogue to which the neopragmatic philosopher R. Rorty invites M. Heidegger as the philosopher whose personality and thought changed during the tragic years of European culture in the 20th century. The paper investigates the way Rorty interprets M. Heidegger's transition from the “early” to the “late” period of philosophizing, and how Rorty himself makes the transition from negative to positive criticism of philosophy at large. We also discus how Rorty brings the different approaches to understanding the aim and purpose of philosophy with the correlation to conceptual paradigms of the philosophy of language, and with the periods of M. Heidegger's philosophy as well. The article also reveals the historical and philosophical aspect of R. Rorty's pragmatic theory of language. We investigate Rorty's method of applying the concept of language to the history of philosophy as well as to the philosophical path of M. Heidegger. Using this linguistic method we could reveal the problems of the fate of Western philosophy in the 20th century along with the crisis of the philosophers' moral personalities as they participate in the major events of their time. We also show why R. Rorty concluded that in Heidegger's “Being and Time” period one could find elements of the theory of basic randomness of social practice and history. The paper also gives an account of Heidegger's personal dilemma between the philosopher's theoretical independence and the difficult search for truth in the variety of the outside world.