Abstract

PALACIO AVENDANO, Martha. The Paradox of the Public Realm in Richard Rorty. Ideas y Valores [online]. 2008, vol.57, n.138, pp.119-132. ISSN 0120-0062.

The concept of the public sphere in Richard Rorty’s philosophy, inherited of liberal tradition, allows be treated as a part of a game of language called democratic liberalism. One of the rules for validating a move in this game consists in taking for granted the distinction between the public and the private spheres. Richard Rorty thought that democratic liberalism did not need any foundations beyond the way to play it; its only criteria would be the game’s practices, according an utopia which would allow us to make more movements in the game. That is, the democratic liberalism does not require foundations, but just practices for achieving a social hope inspired on freedom and pluralism. This kind of utopia, based upon the non-cruelty principle, would make possible an inclusive society where everyone would have a place for their own private vocabulary. In this way, Rorty would have linked freedom and solidarity. However, his language-game reveals the paradox of the link which implies the meaning of the public sphere. Herein, freedom is not a sufficient condition of solidarity; hence, there is no place for social inclusion in Rorty’s language-game.

Keywords : Rorty; liberalism; games of language; public sphere; democracy; metaphor; social inclusion.

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