| From classical pragmatism to neo-pragmatism,many important thinkers and theoretical viewpoints emerged in the process.The former master is Dewey,and the latter is best known as Rorty.Whether it was early research on analytical philosophy or later turning to postmodernism,Rorty has always regarded himself as a pragmatist and Dewey,and often cited or criticized Dewey’s point of view in his works.However,whether Rorty has developed or distorted Dewey’s philosophical theory has become a focus of debate.In fact,from the course of development of pragmatism,we can see that pragmatism has never been a monolith,even among the three people of classical pragmatism(Peers,James,Dewey)there are no small differences.But if you look at the relationship between Dewey and Rorty in this way,it is not only simple,but you can’t really appreciate the essence of the two people ’s thoughts.Therefore,choosing an appropriate angle of entry and doing a comprehensive analysis is the answer to this.The best way to solve the problem is from the perspective of epistemology.At Dewey,cognition is closely related to experience.There are huge problems in traditional empiricism.Dewey began by criticizing traditional empiricism,interpreted experience as the interaction between the subject and the subject,and proposed naturalistic empiricism,thereby highlighting it.The initiative of the cognitive subject.At the same time,Dewey introduced the methods of natural science into cognitive activities and advocated experimentalist methods of inquiry to achieve the accumulation of knowledge and the growth of people and society.In contrast,Rorty believes that instead of paying more attention to experience,he emphasizes the linguistic dimension of cognitive activities in order to turn cognitive problems into language problems.At the same time,on the basis of criticizing the passiveness of cognitive subjects,the concept of ethnocentrism is proposed,which indicates that cognitive subjects should avoid the tendency to transcend history and community.The emphasis on language and the love of literature made Rorty use metaphor construction to clarify the path of cognitive accumulation.The history of thought is also a history of metaphor change to some extent.People’s understanding is regarded as gaining knowledge and seeking truth.Therefore,the difference in epistemology directly leads to the difference between the two in terms of truth.For Dewey,truth is a word worthy of respect.Although there are many problems in conformity theory,it still has its reasonableness after being transformed.Make the truth merely a praise.On the other hand,the differences in epistemology also extend to the socio-political practice,which is mainly reflected in the public-private boundary and the liberalism.For Dewey,human’s social attributes are more fundamental.Public and private are more important when conflicts occur.;Rorty advocates an irony and emphasizes the two parallels.By comparing Dewey’s and Rorty’s epistemology and their influence in practice,we can see that the differences between the two are actually different narratives within pragmatism.Rorty did not understand the philosophy of Dewey in some aspects,but he did not hide his flaws.We still need to affirm Dewey’s philosophy and pragmatism in line with the changing times. |
