[MD] DMB and Me

[Steven Peterson]

On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 12:45 AM, david buchanan <dmbuchanan at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Steve said to dmb:
> ...As far as I know, you haven't read anything by Rorty beyond the quotes of your favorite Rorty critics. Why not start from a position of ignorance instead of from the preconception that Rorty is the great Satan? Why not start with questions about Rorty instead of criticisms of Rorty? Why not try to understand what Rorty is actually saying? It seems very important to you to disagree with Rorty, why not actually read him and try to understand him so you will know what it is you are committed in advance to disagree with?
>
>
>
> dmb says:
>
> I really don't know where you got the idea that my complaints are preconceived or that I was committed to disagree in advance. If it weren't for the fact that Rorty fans bring his views to the table here, I would almost certainly think and write about something else. Anyway, why are you even surprised by my dislike of Rorty? Here, he has been used to for nothing except to undermine the MOQ. In the world of pragmatism he is wildly controversial. On one hand the pragmatists are grateful for the publicity he's brought to the school of thought, but they're also saddened that he seems to have spawned an army of "relativists" and "pretentious dilettantes". I kid you not. Those are the terms professionals use.
>
> Why is does my dislike of Rorty has to be caused by ignorance or malice? Why can't I disagree with him for the same reasons that other pragmatists do? (Haack, Hickman and Hildebrand)


Steve:
Because you haven't read him??

Because unlike these other philosophers you ought to know better than
to misread him as an SOMer??