Rorty, Richard (1931-2007), was a leading American philosopher who questioned the widespread belief that philosophy can or should provide answers to fundamental questions. Rorty also examined the role of the mind in epistemology (the theory of knowledge). He came to believe that philosophy can be seen as a “literary genre.” This belief led him to move from a professorship of philosophy to one in literature, and then later, to one in humanities. Rorty’s best-known work is probably Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979), a controversial attack on traditional philosophy. Contingency, Irony and Solidarity (1989) reflects Rorty’s interest in literary criticism, social theory, and intellectual history. His other important publications include The Linguistic Turn (1967), Consequences of Pragmatism (1982), Essays on Heidegger and Others (1991), and Objectivity, Relativism and Truth (1991).
Richard McKay Rorty was born in New York City on Oct. 4, 1931. He was educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University. He taught at Yale from 1954 to 1956, at Wellesley College from 1958 to 1961, at Princeton University from 1961 to 1982, and at the University of Virginia from 1982 to 1998. Rorty joined the faculty of Stanford University in 1998. Rorty died on June 8, 2007.
