Rorty on James' Varieties of Religious Experience (1of4)

During the Center for the Study of Science's March 24-25, 2002 conference, leading scholars reexamined William James' "The Varieties of Religious Experience" on the centennial of its publication. The late Richard Rorty opines that James' classic work presents clashing definitions of religious experience.
Enjoy.


http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rorty/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/james/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• pragmatism
• philosophy
• religion
• Richard
• Rorty
• William
• James

[MarxBakuninMe]

Why does it say "Invalid Arguments" above the video?

[riversonthemoon]

I'm not getting that. Perhaps it is a problem with your browser. I don't know.

[psycropticunt]

nice, where can i get an introduction to Rorty's stuff?

[riversonthemoon]

I left some introductory links in the description. There are some books you could look for - 'Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature' by Rorty, and 'Rorty and His Critics' By Robert Brandom. I haven't read them yet myself. Hope that helps.

:-)

[abandonship42]

I found The Mirror of Nature to be pretty difficult, but worth reading. I would also recommend some of his later work like Philosophy and Social Hope. It also helps to understand some of James and Dewey. There's a great reader edited by Louis Menand called Pragmatism A Reader which is a pretty good introduction.

[riversonthemoon]

Thanks for mentioning those. I'll check them out.

:-)

[testostyrannical]

Devoid of a sense of humor? His humor is dry, but this whole speech is a non-stop laff reel.

[brokennarcissist]

Rorty is a beast that eat metavocabularies for breakfast.

[inverhillsphilo]

also, i find rorty's claim about the second law of thermodynamics extremely problematic. was he suggesting dewey, clifford (and why he did not mention peirce is strange) accepted that the SLofT pointed to a world where human emotions would no longer play a role in a world of pure reason? and even if that were the case, why would james be forced to hold that view. in fact, it appears james's the will to believe (a response to clifford) explains clearly why that could never be the case.

[inverhillsphilo]

while i like rorty as a general philosopher, he was simply wrong about james. rorty never quite seem to "get" pragmatism. I blame his philosophical education that was rot with analytics and positivism. just saying.

[CamerataNovaPodcasts]

@riversonthemoon I think our Marxist friend is making a joke about the liberal Rorty...

[idealtypical]

@TheatetustheGreat

Rorty's got an ferocious sense of humor. Feel free to quibble with him philosophically, but the man was a master of comedic timing. He was constantly, as it were, 'taking the piss.' His 'laid back' speaking style is part of what makes his extremely dry wit so compelling.

RIP, Richard Rorty.

[simulachra]

@MarxBakuninMe Oh dear, we have an orthodox Marxist who is not happy with American philosophy!

[bahramf]

@psycropticunt I would actually suggest "Philosophy and Social Hope". It's a short book of essays and a good introduction to Rorty. It has some early and later works in it.

I'm currently reading "Philosophy as Cultural Politics" and it's pretty good as well though expensive.

[Drregaleagle]

Communism is the cancer of this presentation. The proper pragmaticist view clearly demands the existence of God because an operational definition for God is established.

[TheatetustheGreat]

Isn't that the same attitude that has American Evangelicals thinking that the Grand Canyon is a skid-mark from Noah's Ark? It is all in eyes of the beholder, mate... I'm not telling you that your love isn't true - just saying that he seems more like a an awkward social dysfunctional than Richard Pryor...

[mellowtribe]

keep writing you are hilarious! you got any videos on tube?

[mellowtribe]

you need to spend time with your father. perhaps going to a ball game?