THE PRACTICE OF POLITICAL THEORY: RORTY AND CONTINENTAL THOUGHT

Book Details

• Publisher: Rawat Publications

• Author: Clayton Chin

• Language: English

• Binding: Hardcover

• Number of Pages: 310

• Release Date: 11-06-2024

• ISBN: 9788131613818

About the Book

Recent political thought has faced a crisis in its philosophical foundations: how can we justify both the explicit and implicit normative claims that guide political decisions and social criticism? In The Practice of Political Theory, Clayton Chin provides a critical reconstruction of Richard Rorty’s work, offering an intervention in the ongoing methodological debates in political thought. Chin argues that Rorty offers valuable, yet often overlooked, tools for addressing key foundational issues in political theory.

The book explores the significance of Rorty’s thought for contemporary political thinking, highlighting his concept of "philosophy as cultural politics" as a means for developing new models of sociopolitical criticism. Chin contrasts Rorty’s pragmatism with the ontological turn in philosophy, presenting them as alternative ways of addressing the current philosophical crisis in foundations. Additionally, Chin places Rorty in dialogue with continental philosophy, engaging with those who work within its tradition.

Focused on both pragmatist scholarship and central issues in contemporary political theory, The Practice of Political Theory responds to the pressing questions of justification and pluralism that are central to modern political discourse.

Contents

• Part I: Rorty and Political Thinking

  • Introduction: Theory and Method: Reconstructing Rorty

  • 1. The Authority of the Social: A Pragmatic Ethos of Inquiry

• Part II: Rorty and Continental Political Thought: Ontology, Naturalism, and History

  • 2. Theorizing After Foundations: Ontology, Language, and Heidegger

  • 3. Reconstructing Naturalism: Pragmatic or Ontological?

  • 4. History and Modernity: Self-Assertion and Critical Reflexivity

• Part III: Rorty and Contemporary Political Theory: Pragmatic Sociopolitical Criticism

  • 5. Pragmatic Political Thinking and Contemporary Critical Social Theory

  • 6. How Pragmatism Constrains and Enables Political Thinking

About the Author

Clayton Chin is a Senior Lecturer in Political Theory at the University of Melbourne. He specializes in contemporary political philosophy, with particular focus on the intersections of pragmatism, critical theory, and continental philosophy.