Richard Rorty

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Book Reviews by RR

Compiled by Gideon Lewis-Kraus (updated 2007)


 

1959

 

Review of /Experience and the Analytic: A Reconsideration of Empiricism/, by Alan Pasch. /International Journal Of Ethics/ 70 (October 1959): 75-77.

 

1960

 

Review of /Modern Science and Human Freedom/, by David L. Miller. /International Journal of Ethics/ 70 (April 1960): 248-49.

 

Reviews of /Aristotle/, by John Hermann Randall, Jr., and /Some Assumptions of Aristotle/, by George Boas. /Ethics/ 71:1 (October 1960): 54-55.

 

Review of /John Dewey: His Thought and Influence/, ed. John Blewett. /Teacher's College Record/ 62 (October 1960): 88-89.

 

1961

 

Review of /Introduction to the Philosophy of History/, by Raymond Aron. /The New Leader/ (December 25, 1961), 18-19.

 

1962

 

Review of /American Pragmatism: Peirce, James, and Dewey/, by Edward C. Moore. /Ethics/ 72:2 (January 1962), 146-47.

 

Review of /The Value Judgment/, by W. D. Lamont. /Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion/ 2:1 (October 1962): 139-40.

 

1963

 

Review of /Understanding Whitehead/, by Victor Lowe. /Journal of Philosophy/ 60:9 (1963): 246-51.

 

Review of /Utopian Essays and Practical Proposals/, by Paul Goodman. /Teacher's College Record/ 64 (May 1963): 743-44.

 

Review of /Reason and Analysis/, by Brand Blanshard. /Journal of Philosophy/ 60:19 (September 12, 1963): 551-57.

 

1964

 

Review of /Chauncy Wright and the Foundations of Pragmatism/, by Edward H. Madden. /Philosophical Review/ 73:2 (April 1964): 287-89.

 

Review of /Clarity Is Not Enough: Essays in Criticism of Linguistic Philosophy/, by H. D. Lewis. /International Philosophical Quarterly/ 4:4 (December 1964): 623-24.

 

1966

 

Review of /Charles Peirce and Scholastic Realism: A Study of Peirce's Relation to John Duns Scotus/, by John F. Boler. /Philosophical Review/ 75:1 (January 1966): 116-19.

 

1967

 

Review of /Metaphysics, Reference, and Language/, by James W. Cornman. /Journal of Philosophy/ 64:22 (November 23, 1967): 770-74.

 

1970

 

Review of /Science and Metaphysics: Variations on Kantian Themes/, by Wilfrid Sellars. /Philosophy/ 45 (March 1970): 66-70.

 

1971

 

Review of /The Origins of Pragmatism: Studies in the Philosophy of Charles Sanders Peirce and William James/, by A. J. Ayer. /Philosophical Review/ 80:1 (January 1971): 96-100.

 

1972

 

Review of /Nihilism/, by Stanley Rosen. /Philosophy Forum/ 11 (1972): 102-8.

 

1976

 

"Realism and Necessity." Review of /Nature and Necessity/, by Milton Fisk. /Noûs/ 10:3 (September 1976): 345-54.

 

Review of /On Human Conduct/, by Michael Oakeshott, and /Knowledge and Politics/, by Roberto Mangabiera Unger. /Social Theory and Practice/ 4:1 (Fall 1976): 107-16.

 

1979

 

"On Worldmaking." Review of /Ways of Worldmaking/, by Nelson Goodman. /Yale Review/ 69:2 (December 1979): 276-79.

 

1980

 

"Kripke vs. Kant." Review of /Naming and Necessity/, by Saul Kripke. /London Review of Books/ (September 4, 1980), 4-5.

 

1981 "Beyond Nietzsche and Marx." Review of /Power/Knowledge/, by Michel Foucault, /Michel Foucault: The Will to Truth/, by Alan Sheridan, and /Herculine Barbin/, by Oscar Panizza. /London Review of Books/ (February 19, 1981), 5-6.

 

"Being Business." Review of /A Heidegger Critique/, by Roger Waterhouse. /Times Literary Supplement/ (July 3, 1981), 760.

 

Review of /American Sociology and Pragmatism/, by J. D. Lewis and R. L. Smith, and /The Calling of Sociology and Other Essays/, by Edward Shils. /Review of Metaphysics/ 35:1 (1981): 167-68.

 

1982

 

"Persuasive Philosophy." Review of /Philosophical Explanations/, by Robert Nozick. /London Review of Books/ (May 20, 1982), 10-11.

 

"Brute and Raw Experience." Review of /Philosophy in the Twentieth Century/, by A. J. Ayer. /New Republic/ (December 6, 1982), 33-36.

 

1983

 

"The Pragmatist." Review of /A Stroll with William James/, by Jacques Barzun. /New Republic/ (May 9, 1983), 32-34.

 

"Against Belatedness." Review of /The Legitimacy of the Modern Age/, by Hans Blumenberg. /London Review of Books/ (June 16, 1983), 3-5.

 

"Unsoundness in Perspective." Review of /Nietzsche/, by Richard Schacht, and /Nietzsche and Philosophy/, by Gilles Deleuze. /Times Literary Supplement/ (June 17, 1983), 619-20.

 

Review of /Reason, Truth, and History/, by Hilary Putnam. /Critique/ 39:439 (1983): 923-40.

 

1984

 

"Signposts Along the Way That Reason Went." Review of /Margins of Philosophy/, by Jacques Derrida. /London Review of Books/ (February 16, 1984), 5-6.

 

"What's It All About?" Review of /Intentionality/, by John Searle. /London Review of Books/ (May 17, 1984), 3-4.

 

"Life at the End of Inquiry." Review of /Realism and Reason: Philosophical Papers III/, by Hilary Putnam. /London Review of Books/ (August 2, 1984), 6-7.

 

Review of /The Post-Modern Condition/, by Jean-François Lyotard. /Critique/ 40:442 (1984): 181-97.

 

1985

 

"Feeling His Way." Review of /The War Diaries of Jean-Paul Sartre: November 1939-March 1940/. /New Republic/ (April 15, 1985), 32-34.

 

Review of /Traditional and Analytical Philosophy: Lectures on the Philosophy of Language/, by Ernst Tugendhat. /Journal of Philosophy/ 82:12 (December 1985): 720-29.

 

"Absolutely Non-Absolute." Review of /Philosophical Papers/, vols. 1-2, by Charles Taylor. /Times Literary Supplement/ (December 6, 1985), 1379-80.

 

1986

 

"Sex and the Single Thinker." Review of /Sexual Desire: A Moral Philosophy of the Erotic/, by Roger Scruton. /New Republic /(June 2, 1986), 34-37.

 

1987

 

"Posties." Review of /Der Philosophische Diskurs der Moderne/, by Jürgen Habermas. /London Review of Books/ (September 3, 1987), 11-12. [French translation: /Sud/ 18:78-79 (1988): 173-85.]

 

1988

 

"Taking Philosophy Seriously." Review of /Heidegger et le Nazisme/, by Victor Farias. /New Republic/ (April 11, 1988), 31-34. —Italian translation: "Prendere dul serio la filosofia." /Aut Aut/ 226-27 (July-October 1988): 133-40.

 

Review of /Derrida/, by Christoper Norris. /The New Leader/ (October 3-17, 1988), 20-21.

 

Review of /The Limits of Analysis/, by Stanley Rosen. /Independent Journal of Philosophy/ 5-6 (1988): 153-54.

 

1989

 

Review of /Connections to the World: The Basic Concepts of Philosophy/, by Arthur C. Danto. /New York Newsday /(March 19, l989), 21.

 

Review of /In Quest of the Ordinary: Lines of Skepticism and Romanticism/, by Stanley Cavell. /New Republic/ (June 19, 1989), 38-41.

 

Review of /Interpreting Across Boundaries/, ed. Eliot Deutsch and G. Larson. /Philosophy East and West/ 39:3 (July l989): 332-37.

 

1991

 

Review of /John Dewey and American Democracy/, by Robert Westbrook. /The New Leader/ (May 20, 1991), 13.

 

"The Guru of Prague." Review of /Platon et l'Europe et Essais hérétiques/, by Jan Patocka, and /Jan Patocka: Philosophy and Selected Writings/, ed. Ezrahim Kohak. /New Republic/ (July 1, 1991), 35-40.

 

"Just One More Species Doing Its Best." Review of /The Later Works, 1925-1953/, vol. 17, by John Dewey; /Dewey/, by J. E. Tiles; /John Dewey and American Democracy/, by Robert Westbrook; and /Beloved Community: The Cultural Criticism of Randolph Bourne, Van Wyck Brooks, Waldo Frank, and Lewis Mumford/, by Casey Blake. /London Review of Books/ (July 25, 1991), 3-7. —German translation: in /Merkur/ 46:1 (January 1992): 1-16.

 

"Blunder Around for a While." Review of /Consciousness Explained/, by Daniel Dennett. /London Review of Books/ (November 21, 1991), 3-6.

 

"The Philosopher and the Prophet." Review of /The American Evasion of Philosophy/, by Cornel West. /Transition/ 52 (1991): 70-78.

 

1992

 

"We Anti-Representationalists." Review of /Ideology: An Introduction/, by Terry Eagleton. /Radical Philosophy/ 60 (Spring 1992): 40-42.

 

"The Feminist Saving Remnant." Review of /The Rise and Fall of the American Left/, by John Patrick Diggins. /The New Leader/ (June l-15, 1992), 9-10.

 

1993

 

"Paroxysms and Politics." Review of /The Passion of Michel Foucault/, by James Miller. /Salmagundi/ 97 (Winter l993): 61-68. —Reprinted in /The New Salmagundi Reader/, eds. Robert Boyers and Peggy Boyers, 513-20. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1996.

 

Review of /The Ethics of Authenticity/, by Charles Taylor. /London Review of Books/ (April 8, 1993), 3.

 

Review of /Ideals and Illusions: On Reconstruction and Deconstruction in Contemporary Critical Theory/, by Thomas McCarthy. /Journal of Philosophy/ 90:7 (July 1993): 370-73.

 

1994

 

Review of /Willful Liberalism: Voluntarism and Individuality in Political Theory and Practice/, by Richard Flathman. /Political Theory/ 22:1 (February 1994): 190-94.

 

"Why Can't a Man Be More Like a Woman, and Other Problems in Moral Philosophy." Review of /Moral Prejudices: Essays in Ethics/, by Annette Baier. /London Review of Books/ (February 24, 1994), 3-6.

 

"A Leg-Up for Oliver North." Review of /Dictatorship of Virtue: Multiculturalism and the Battle for America's Future/, by Richard Bernstein. /London Review of Books/ (October 20, 1994), 13-14. —A revised version, entitled "Demonizing the Academy," appeared in /Harper's/ (January 1995), 13-17. —Another version, entitled "The Demonization of Multiculturalism," appeared in the /Journal of Blacks in Higher Education/ 7 (Spring 1995): 74-75.

 

Review of /The Grandeur and Twilight of Radical Universalism/, by Ferenc Feher and Agnes Heller. /Thesis Eleven/ 37 (1994): 119-26.

 

1995

 

"Two Cheers for Elitism." Review of /The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy/, by Christopher Lasch. /New Yorker/ (January 30, 1995), 86-89.

 

"Untruth and Consequences." Review of /Killing Time/, by Paul Feyerabend. /New Republic/ (July 31, 1995), 32-36.

 

"Cranes and Skyhooks." Review of /Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life/, by Daniel Dennett. /Lingua Franca/ (August 1995): 62-66.

 

"Color-Blind in the Marketplace." Review of /The End of Racism: Principles for a Multicultural Society/, by Dinesh d'Souza. /New York Times Book Review/ (September 24, 1995), 9.

 

"Consolation Prize." Review of /The Unconsoled/, by Kazuo Ishiguro. /Village Voice Literary Supplement/ (October 1995), 13.

 

1996

 

"The Sins of the Overclass." Review of /The Next American Nation/, by Michael Lind. /Dissent/ 43:2 (Spring 1996): 109-12.

 

Review of /Critical Theory/, ed. David Hoy and Thomas McCarthy. /Ethics/ 106:3 (April 1996): 657-59.

 

"Something to Steer By." Review of /John Dewey and the High Tide of Americal Liberalism/, by Alan Ryan. /London Review of Books /(June 20, 1996), 7-8.

 

Review of /Aramis; or, The Love of Technology/, by Bruno Latour. /Village Voice Literary Supplement/ (September 1996), 10.

 

"Sigmund on the Couch." Review of /Wittgenstein Reads Freud/, by Jacques Bouveresse. /New York Times Book Review/ (September 22, 1996), 42.

 

Review of /Pragmatism: An Open Question/, by Hilary Putnam. /Philosophical Review/ 105:4 (October 1996): 560-61.

 

"Knowledge and Acquaintance." Review of /Bertrand Russell: The Spirit of Solitude, 1872-1921/, by Ray Monk. /New Republic /(December 2, 1996), 46-52.

 

1997

 

Review of /When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor/, by W. J. Wilson. /Dissent/ 44:3 (Summer 1997): 111-13.

 

1998

 

"Marxists, Straussians, Pragmatists." Review of /Left Out: Pragmatism, Exceptionalism, and the Poverty of American Marxism, 1980-1922/, by Brian Lloyd; /Young Sidney Hook: Pragmatist and Marxist/, by Christopher Phelps; and /Reconstructing America: The Symbol of America in Modern Thought/, by James Caesar. /Raritan/ (Fall 1998): 128-36.

 

Review of /Martin Heidegger: Between Good and Evil/, by Rudiger Safranski. /New York Times Book Review/ (May 3, 1998), 12-13.

 

1999

 

"Phony Science Wars." Review of /The Social Construction of What?/ by Ian Hacking. /Atlantic Monthly/ (November 1999), 120.

 

"I Hear America Sighing." Review of /The Real American Dream/, by Andrew Delbanco. /New York Times Book Review/ (November 7, 1999), 16.

 

"Aristotle Had It Right." Review of /The Trouble with Principle/, by Stanley Fish. /The New Leader/ (December 13-27, 1999), 5-6.

 

2000

 

"Structures of Deceit." Review of /Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit/, by Garry Wills. /New York Times Book Review/ (June 11, 2000), 10.

 

Review of /Happiness, Death, and the Remainder of Life/, by Jonathan Lear. /New York Times Book Review/ (October 22, 2000), 14.

 

2001

 

Review of /Idealism as Modernism: Hegelian Variations/, by Robert Pippin. /Ethics/ 111:2 (January 2001): 438.

 

"Studied Ambiguity." Review of /Shaping Science with Rhetoric/, by Leah Ceccarelli. /Science/ (September 28, 2001), 2399-2400.

 

2002

 

"When Philosophy Is Irrelevant." Review of /Our Posthuman Future/, by Francis Fukuyama. /The New Leader/ (May-June 2002), 19.

 

"To the Sunlit Uplands." Review of /Truth and Truthfulness/, by Bernard Williams. /London Review of Books/ (October 31, 2002), 13-15.

 

2003

 

Online review of Pascal Engel's /Truth/, /Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews/, March 13, 2003.

 

"More than compromise." Review of /Law, Pragmatism and Democracy/ by Richard A. Posner. Dissent (Fall 2003), 99-101.

 

Online review of Jürgen Habermas's /Truth and Justification/, /Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews/, December 9, 2003.

 

2005

 

"After Kripke." Review of Scott Soames' /Analytic philosophy in the twentieth century/. /London Review of Books/ (January 20, 2005).

 

Online review of Donald Davidson's /Problems of Rationality/, /Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews/, February 1, 2005.

 

Review of /True to Life: Why Truth Matters/ by Michael Lynch. /Philosophy and Phenomenological Research/, vol. LXXI, no. 1 (July 2005), pp. 231-239.

 

"A queasy agnosticism." Review of Ian McEwan's /Saturday//, //Dissent/ (Fall 2005), pp. 91-94.

 

Online review of Robert Pippin's /The Persistence of Subjectivity/, /Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews/, October 1, 2005.

 

"Visions of a new utopia." Review of /Cosmopolitanism: ethics in a world of strangers/ by Anthony Appiah, /The New Leader/, November-December 2005, pp. 22-23.

 

2006

 

"Structures of Deceit." Review of /Moral Minds/, by Marc Hauser. /New York Times Book Review/ (August 25, 2006), 10.