Lecture 10
Anti-Theory
Rorty and Williams
Prominent Anti-Theorists and their Major Works
Bernard Williams Richard Rorty
Annette Baier
Clarke’s Taxonomy of AntiTheorists Arguments
Theory is unnecessary
Theory is Theoretically Impossible Theory is Undesirable
Williams as Anti-Theorist
English Modesty
Romantic Postmodernism
Objections to particular Theories
Williams on the impossible goals of Ethical Theory
To make as altruistic To resolve dilemmas
To Bind us with External Reasons
The Main Sins of Ethical Theory
Reductionism Abstraction
Themes in Rorty
“Priority of Democracy to Philosophy” Articulation vs. Justification
Liberal Democracy can get along without philosophy
“Staying on the surface, philosophically speaking”, Rawls