Debating the State of Philosophy:
Habermas, Rorty, and Kolakowski

Debating the State of Philosophy: Habermas, Rorty, and Kolakowski; edited by Józef Niżnik and John T. Sanders; with contributions by Ernest Gellner and others. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996. Published under the auspices of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. (Contents, v-vi; About the Contributors, 149-150)

Preface vii

Chapter 1

Coping with Contingencies 1

Jurgen Habermas: Coping with Contingencies—The Return of Historicism 1

Richard Rorty: Emancipating Our Culture 24

Notes 29

Chapter 2

The Challenge of Relativism 31

Richard Rorty: Relativism—Finding and Making 31

Richard Rorty: On Moral Obligation, Truth, and Common Sense 48

Leszek Kolakowski: A Remark on Rorty 52

Richard Rorty: Response to Kolakowski 58

Notes 66

Chapter 3

Philosophy and the Dilemmas of the Contemporary World 67

Leszek Kolakowski: A Remark on Our Relative Relativism 67

Ernest Gellner: Enlightenment—Yes or No? 77

Richard Rorty: The Notion of Rationality 84

Note 88

Appendix I

Comments on the Habermas/Rorty Debate 89

Appendix II

Comments on Richard Rorty, "Relativism: Finding and Making" 104

Appendix III

Comments on Philosophy and the Dilemmas of the Contemporary World 116

Bibliography 126

Index 145

About the Contributors 149

Commenters:

Marek J. Siemek

John T. Sanders

Andrzej Walicki

Stefan Morawski

Leszek Kuznicki

Andrzej Szahaj

Wladyslaw Krajewski

Piotr Gutowski

Adam Chmielewski

Désirée Park

Rafal Wierzchoslawski

Jozef Kosian

Marek Bielecki

Grazyna Skapska

Andrzej Grzegorczyk

About the Contributors

JURGEN HABERMAS is Professor Emeritus, Philosophische Fakultat, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitat, Frankfurt.

RICHARD RORTY is University Professor of Humanities, the University of Virginia.

LESZEK KOLAKOWSKI is a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.

ERNEST GELLNER was Professor of Social Anthropology at Cambridge University.

JOZEF NIZNIK is Professor, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences.

JOHN T. SANDERS is Visiting Professor, Graduate School for Social Research, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, and Professor, Department of Philosophy, Rochester Institute of Technology.

MAREK BIELECKI is Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Warsaw and the California State University at Hayward.

ADAM CHMIELEWSKI is Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Wroclaw.

PIOTR GUTOWSKI is Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Catholic University of Lublin.

ANDRZEJ GRZEGORCZYK is Professor Emeritus, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences.

JOZEF KOSIAN is Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Wroclaw.

WLADYSLAW KRAJEWSKI is Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Warsaw.

LESZEK KUZNICKI is Professor and President of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

STEFAN MORAWSKI is Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Warsaw.

DESIREE PARK is Professor, Department of Philosophy, Concordia University (Canada).

MAREK J. SIEMEK is Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Warsaw.

GRAZYNA SKAPSKA is Professor, Department of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, Cracow.

ANDRZEJ SZAHAJ is Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Torun.

ANDRZEJ WALICKI is Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, U.S.

RAFAL WIERZCHOSLAWSKI is Instructor, Department of Philosophy, Catholic University of Lublin.

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