Richard Rorty on American Politics, the Left, and the New Left 2/2

[@Elise3016]

"Mmmhmm. Mmmhmm. [silence]" Jesus that guy. Great Rorty though.

[@okra7648]

l legit went through this thinking they were in 2015 due to the upload date until they started talking about Clinton. lt's crazy how much the issues being discussed apply today, particularly identity politics and globalization.

[@ugp301]

He would've voted for Bernie if he was still alive. And he's so on point by the way. Wish I had discovered him sooner

[@ugp301]

@Emilio Aryan get the fuck outta here man

[@ugp301]

@Brayden Tanner you too bitch

[@lonelycubicle]

I like how everyone wore the exact same clothes from “last week”. Thanks for posting.

[@scin3759]

The Brilliance of America can be measured by the fact that this video after 2 years only has 4.3 thousand views. What a display of intellect in a country of over 300 million in which allegedly over 35 % of people attended university.

[@rbrtdff]

The Brilliance of America can be measured by the fact that this video after 9 years only has 22 thousand views. What a display of intellect in a country of over 333 million in which allegedly over 44 % of people attended university.

[@lonelycubicle]

Wow, 19 year prescient globalization comment starting at 19:24 that still hasn't been fully discussed.

[@pieterholleman4338]

Incredible, right?

[@lonelycubicle]

Pieter Holleman Just stumbled onto this & was shocked Rorty had called it so many years ahead

[@thadtuiol1717]

And here we are back again for this week's show...apparently all wearing the same clothes we wore in last week's show.

[@ericv7720]

Rorty's wish in a way came to fruition, as national health insurance is center-stage and has done a lot of work in the way of uniting the left across racial and gender categories in the past decade.

[@geoffreycanie4609]

This is super relevant today

[@mackmaster100]

The reason why Clinton did not take a more left wing stance and pushed for those issues is due to lobbyism and the corporate financing of political campains in America. Finaly that aspect is being adressed in the public sphere.

[@lonelycubicle]

MACK I don’t disagree, but Clinton did end with a lot of unused political capital ... seems like he could at least have again tried to improve access to healthcare.

[@SandfordSmythe]

He also maintained a more centrist position.

[@benanderson6108]

i have added this rare rorter to my collection

[@stephen0793]

But shame on Obama for passing the TPP!

[@ditchtheorgan988]

thanks to Jennifer Senior of the New York Times

[@Paul-uh8qw]

Rorty uses the concept of a secular society being more 'grown-up' than a religious society (and a society that has stopped asking the question 'what corresponds more to reality?' is more grown-up than one that still does). But does the way he uses 'more grown-up' not simply mean 'more in correspondence with a true human nature'? Thereby using a non-human abstract concept (something he opposes).

[@futureaztec5109]

No, its that there was a temptation to just lean on God to answer everything, as one might try to rest arguments about human rights on natural facts. In following Dewey, Rorty wants us to make a similar transition away from 'obeying the Holy Father', toward recognizing whats best for the town; just as he would like us to read the experts in their own disciplines about what they have to offer, rather than try to come up with some sort of systematic technique that would sort the wheat from the chaff without getting our hands dirty.

[@dancinmad]

Where are you getting the concept of a true human nature from and why do you need it?

[@ianfryer]

I think I see what you are saying, if you are referring to Rorty's approval of Dewey's Darwinian perspective - we are animals coping with our environment. I can understand the temptation to see this as an appeal to our true human nature (as evolved animals). However, surely Rorty would cash this out the same way he pragmatically deals with every other successful scientific theory. It's only your own conception of science (as being closer to truth or reality) which would make Rorty contradict himself, and he doesn't share that conception. All that matters to Rorty is that seeing ourselves as evolved animals solves some problems. Pragmatists invert the usual order of causation - they say "It doesn't solve the problems because it's true. Rather, we call it true because it solves the problems". I'm not sure if I agree, but this is Rorty's position.

[@gumlao7528]

They're paraphrasing Kant's 'What Is Enlightenment?'. Sapere aude!

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

The fundamental concept of God is the foundation for which all things, seen and unseen, rest. This is the foundation on which fundamental values rights and understandings are ultimately justified, even when branching out and attempting to escape their ultimate foundation. Mere secular materialist subjectivism is the definition of blinding arrogance and failure.

[@geoffreynhill2833]

Just listen to RR's first answer, Jacobins! 😉

[@geoffreynhill2833]

Comrades-in-armchairs!!!

[@geoffreynhill2833]

Programs like national health insurance get kneecapped by the parties' wealthy donors, RR! 😎🏴‍☠😎

[@lotharlamurtra7924]

They listen to Rorty paying attention to what he says but both in their heads are thinking "what the hell is he talking about?"

[@stephen0793]

Thank God for Obamacare!

[@gerhitchman]

Mhmmm mhmmmm

[@jamesbarlow6423]

I dont buy this guy

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

You shouldn’t. The ideas he reflects have been a detrimental disaster.