A Study Of Rorty’s Humanistic Literary Theory Of Finitism

Richard Rorty’s consideration of post-humanism has always been a focus of Rorty’s studies at home and abroad.After discarding the foundations of metaphysics and essentialism in traditional philosophy,Rorty turns the focus of neo-pragmatism to the field of literature and constructed his literary theory with the connotation of “post-humanism”.Post-humanism,in Rorty’s words,is a kind of “humanistic finitism” whose focus has shifted from the abstract universal human nature to the concrete and limited individual.Therefore,trying to set out from Rorty’s humanist finitism,taking Rorty’s literary theory as the research object,this thesis attempts to probe into the significance of pragmatic care and humanistic spirit in Rorty’s literary theory.This thesis contains three parts: the introduction,the main body,and the conclusion.The introduction part includes literature review,research methodology and research questions,discussing Rorty’s post-humanist literary theory from the three dimensions of literary function,literary criticism and literary interpretation,so as to justify the core role of the basic ideas of finitism and neo-pragmatism in the construction of Rorty’s literary theory.Chapter 1explores the role of literature in shaping private perfection and social solidarity through the analysis of characters in Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time,Nabokov’s Lolita,and George Orwell’s 1984.Clarifying the coexistence of autonomy and publicity in the private and public spheres,and how they work together to realize personal value and reduce cruelty to society,thereby illustrating the role of literature in shaping self-value.Chapter 2 discusses Rorty’s reflection of Bloom’s romanticism,Derrida’s deconstruction,Fish’s reader response criticism,and points out that literary criticism aims to achieve self-creation,which reflects itself in Bloom’s “creative misreading”,Derrida’s “deviant minorities” and Fish’s“re-description”,these three criticisms work together to realize self-creation in literature.Chapter 3 focuses on the significance of literary interpretation to self-understanding.Rorty’s interpretation concept is influenced by Gadamer and integrated it into the process of pragmatism.In this process,Rorty’s pragmatic literary interpretation is embodied in three aspects,which are: “meaning is in use”,“bildung is essentially dialogue” and “making rather than finding”.The text does not tell things to the readers,nor waits for the readers to listen,but provides stimulus that could create an opportunity for self to extend inspiration and imagination.It is in these three aspects that self-understanding can be realized.In the conclusion of this thesis,it is pointed out that the “person” on which post-humanism is based is no longer an abstract universal “capital person”,but a concrete and real “lowercase person”;It is not a monologue under an universal principle,but an equal dialogue based on practice,thinking and imagination,and that is how an individual realizes his self being.The “self” here is the “self” that can see the finiteness and contingency of life,and it is also the “self” that is shaped by realistic actions in a specific context.It is thus clear that Rorty’s literary theory shows the cherishment and maintenance of humanism.It is the path towards “humanism” after “theory”.