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Richard Rorty and the Possibility of a Neo-pragmatic Literary Theory

Tang Yonghua   

  1. the Department of Chinese Language and Literature in East China Normal University
  • Online:2018-09-25 Published:2018-11-28
  • About author:Tang Yonghua, Ph.D., is a professor at the Department of Chinese Language and Literature in East China Normal University. His main research interest is aesthetics and literary theory.
  • Supported by:
    the General Project (18BZW011) and the Major Project (14ZDB087) of the National Social Sciences Foundation of China

Abstract: In virtue of the logic of Richard Rorty's neo-pragmatism, it is problematic to claim that Rorty's literary theory is based on his philosophy. Rather, Rorty as a neo-pragmatist and a literary theorist can both make more sense if they are put together. So we may need start from the controversy over the definition of neo-pragmatism, and activate the tension between literature and philosophy, in order to give a more thoughtful examination of Rorty's design of literary theory. Besides, we can divide theories into three types according to their function: inquiry, problematization, and therapeutics. Thus we may place better a possible neo-pragmatic literary theory, including how it asks, how it thinks, and how it answers.

Key words: Rorty, neo-pragmatism, literary theory

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