Richard Rorty and the Crisis in Western Classical Philosophy (Re-reading knowledge and method in the context of life)

Richard Rorty is regarded as a contemporary thinker who critically, but in a different way from Habermas and Foucault, attacks to theoretical system of western classical philosophy and challenges certain modern philosophical perspectives in western philosophy. In so doing, he accuses philosophy, both old and new, to Representationalism, Fundamentalism, Absolutism, separation of philosophy from life and truth from meaning. Inspired by Heidegger, Darwin, Wittgenstein, Davidson, Nietzsche, he makes a creative theoretical combination which aims at re-reading knowledge, method and truth in the context of life. The philosophy of Rorty is concerned with overcoming conventional gaps between continental and analytical philosophies in order to keep philosophy away from inadequate theoretical and conceptual dualisms. Thus, going beyond the terminology of current philosophical approaches, Rorty intends to bring the philosophy into the historical contexts and everyday life settings so that it can be used as an instrument for problem solving in social life. For Rorty, philosophy not only refers to an academic enterprise but also it is considered as a tool to solve problem or to perceive something in practice. This paper seeks to both explore and criticize the ideas and thoughts of thinkers influencing Rorty philosophy. Then, describing the main theoretical underpinnings of Rorty theoretical system, it makes effort to clarify the theoretical and methodological contributions of Rorty to contemporary western philosophy.