Rorty, Public Reason, and Modernity''s Crisis of Critique

Starting with Richard Rortys critique of reason, this book discusses modernitys legitimation crisis in political discourse. Rorty, Public Reason, and Modernity's Crisis of Critique explores the contemporary crisis of rational justification and collective will-formation in our current political institutions and the public sphere, arguing that there is an array of untapped rational resources that should be deployed to justify social, political, and economic views, agendas, and programs. It also identifies limits to the powers of public reason to generate rational agreement and collective will-formation. Using a critical analysis of Rortys non-foundationalist perspective as a vehicle to study modernitys project of rational critique, Ivan Marquez highlights both the strengths and promise and the weaknesses and limitations of liberal and democratic societiesespecially within pluralistic socio-cultural contextsand some possible ways to work within this space of possibilities and constraints. Ultimately, this book can be seen as elaborating a political epistemology view that argues for a redefinition of philosophy and defends a type of post-metaphysical culture.