Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher

The Making Of Richard Rorty

The American philosopher Richard Rorty (1931 -- 2007) became famous for his 1979 book "Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature" which critiqued the analytical philosophy practiced in the United States and which sought to reframe the nature of philosophical practice. The book was and remains widely read. For the most part it was received critically by Rorty's fellow analytic philosophers.

Rorty was a tenured professor of philosophy at Princeton when he wrote the book who had gained a reputation within analytic philosophy. He subsequently left Princeton and, in a sense, academic philosophy, and served as Professor of Humanities and Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Virginia and at Stanford University for the rest of his life.

Neil Gross' book "Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher" (2008) is a biography of Rorty that essentially cuts-off in 1982 but with some references to Rorty's late writings and preoccupations. From his youth, Rorty meticulously kept his letters and other writings and generously made his files available to Gross to use without restriction. Thus, Gross had an excellent opportunity to get inside the mind of his subject over time.

Gross' book, however, is something different from a biography. It is part of a style of sociological writing that Gross calls the sociology of ideas. The aim of the sociology of ideas is to show how social conditions help to formulate the goals and ideals of a group, particularly intellectuals. The concept might be applied to an academic department, for example, but in the case of this book it is applied particularly to Rorty. An early forerunner of the sociology of ideas is a field known as the sociology of knowledge. Many years ago as an undergraduate I read Karl Mannheim's book "Ideology and Utopia", an important book still and a classic in what was known as the sociology of knowledge.

Gross' book thus straddles two genres: it is a biography of Rorty and a study in the field of the sociology of ideas. The book is organized in a way which keeps this double focus. It begins with a section titled "Preface for my Fellow Sociologists" in which Gross explains his projects and advises sociologically-oriented readers to focus on the Preface and on the final two chapters of the book, which develop what Gross calls a "theory of intellectual self-concept" and applies it to Rorty's life and work. The remainder of the book makes reference to the sociological theory but also works as a more traditional biography by developing the story of Rorty's life. The book is philosophically well-informed with Gross showing a good knowledge of Rorty's work and of the philosophical questions with which Rorty dealt.

The book reminded me of why I was interested in Karl Mannheim many years ago and why I have continued my interest in philosophy and in Rorty. Still, the mixture of sociology and biography make this book dense and difficult to read. To benefit from this book, readers will need a strong prior interest in and familiarity with the philosophy of Rorty. The book aims to show the trajectory of Rorty's career and to show that Rorty did not make an abrupt break with analytic philosophy when he wrote his famous book "Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature". The thoughts that Rorty developed in that book were of long-standing in his intellectual development.

The book begins with two long chapters on Rorty's parents, James Rorty and Winifred Raushenbush. who were both left-wing activists, writers and intellectuals in their own right. They also were both patriotic and anti-communist. The influence of Rorty's parents, particularly, their American patriotism, becomes a theme throughout this study.

At the age of 15, Rorty's parents sent him to the University of Chicago where he remained ultimately to earn his Masters Degree. During this time, the precocious, shy young man studied the history of philosophy and literature. He became entranced with metaphysics and wrote a thesis on the work of Whitehead under Whitehead's student Hartshorne. This fascination with pluralistic philosophy continued as Rorty earned his PhD at Yale under the speculative metaphysical philosopher Paul Weiss.

Gross' book follows Rorty's career through his years at Wellesley College and then through becoming a tenured full professor at Princeton. During these years, Rorty became a respected scholar of analytic philosophy through articles and a book titled "The Linguistic Turn". It is treacherous to be overly confident of motivations. Rorty's studies had presaged a turn to analytic philosophy of language for the insights it could be offered. Gross also suggests that personal ambition to do the best he could do and to win the respect of his philosophical peers and secure tenure also were considerations in Rorty's focus on analytical philosophy. With tenure secured, and with a changing academic climate on the 1970s away from the scientism of early years. Rorty was ready to take what he had learned from analytic philosophy and use it to change his understanding of the discipline.

Importantly, Gross argues that Rorty was not simply responding to pressure from others in developing the path of his thinking. The "theory of intellectual self-concept" finds that Rorty was responding as well to what he found most worthwhile and valuable in his own philosophical search. In his case, Gross suggests, what was valuable to Rorty's self-concept was the political liberalism he learned from his parents, their patriotism, and the love of literature and art.

The sociological discussion in the book tends to be turgid. However the book offers great insight into Rorty and into academic life in the United States. I learned a great deal from the book, and from its discussions of Rorty's parents and of universities such as Chicago, Princeton, and Yale. This book is worthwhile for readers with a serious interest in Richard Rorty.

Robin Friedman