What is it about?
Richard Rorty belongs to the philosophical tradition of American Pragmatism. Like William James and John Dewey, Rorty thinks that Darwin's theory of evolution has immense implications for philosophy - implications so far ignored by most philosophers. In my article, I am tracking the influence of Darwin on Rorty's thought. On my reconstruction, linguistic evolution happens through small linguistic aberrations in everyday language, which are subsequently adopted. Our language evolves just like species evolve, in an unpredictable process governed by chance.
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Why is it important?
Language is constantly evolving. In the age of ubiquitous online communication, we need a theory about how meme-culture and online slang are shaping our language. Following the argument in my article, linguistic innovation happening online is of a piece with what is always already happening in linguistic communities. More importantly, it explains the evolution of our language by the same theory which explains diversity on earth.
Perspectives
I am very happy with this publication because it brings together my interest for pragmatism and for evolutionary thinking. I am hoping that my article offers a fresh perspective on Rorty's naturalism and his frequent reference to Darwin.
Mogan Ramesh
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Rorty’s Debt to Darwinism, Contemporary Pragmatism, July 2025, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/18758185-bja10115.
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